LAW. 



605 



in order to be called to the degree of barrister, we 

 cannot state them more concisely than by adopting 

 the language of the common law commissioners. 



" The four Inns of Courts, the Inner Temple, 

 the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn, 

 severally enjoy the privilege of conferring the 

 rank of barrister at law ; a rank which constitutes 

 an indispensable qualification for practice in the 

 superior courts. No other means of obtaining that 

 rank exist, but that of becoming enrolled as a 

 student, in one or other of these inns, and after- 

 ward applying to its principal officers or benchers, 

 for a call to the bar. The origin of this privilege 

 of the inns of court appears to be involved in con- 

 siderable obscurity. 



" It was observed by lord Mansfield, in the case 

 of The King v. Gray's Inn, Doug. 354, that the 

 original institution of the inns of court no where 

 precisely appears ; but it is certain that they are 

 not corporations, and have no charter from the 

 crown. They are voluntary societies, which for 

 ages have submitted to government, analogous to 

 that of other seminaries of learning ; but all the 

 power they have concerning the admission to the 

 bar, is delegated to them from the judges; and in 

 every instance their conduct is subject to the con- 

 trol of the judges as visitors. 



" In support of these positions, various passages 

 are cited from Dugdale's Origines Juridicales, 

 which clearly show that, in former times, the 

 judges and the benchers made regulations to be ob- 

 served by the inns of courts, not only respecting 

 the admission to the bar, but generally regarding 

 the conduct of the members of the inn, and the 

 admission of students. Many instances will be 

 found in the appendix, of such orders, sometimes 

 made by advice of the privy council and judges 

 only, and sometimes by the benchers, by advice 

 and direction of the judges, and proceeding from 

 the king's suggestion. 



" There does not appear to be an instance in mo- 

 dern times in which the judges have interfered 

 with the internal regulations of the different so- 

 cieties, though there are several in which they 

 have acted as visitors, upon appeals to them from 

 decisions of the benchers respecting calls to the 

 bar. 



." In the case of Mr Wooler, reported as the 

 case of The King v. The Benchers of Lincoln's 

 Inn, 4 B. & C. 855, it was held that the judges 

 had no power, as visitors, to interfere with the re- 

 gulations of the inns of courts respecting the ad- 

 mission of students; and also that the court of 

 king's bench could not, in such case, interfere by 

 mandamus. It was observed by Mr Justice Little- 

 dale, " that the court was called upon to control 

 the society in the admission of their members ; but 

 that, as far as the admission of members is con- 

 cerned, those are voluntary societies, not submit- 

 ting to any government. They may in their dis- 

 cretion admit or not, as they please ; and the court 

 of king s bench has no power to compel them to 

 admit any individual." He added, that "the in- 

 terference of the judges at the instance of those 

 members of the societies whom the benchers had 

 refused to call to the bar, was perfectly right; be- 

 cause a member, who had been suffered to incur 

 expense, with a view to being called to the bar, 

 thereby acquires an inchoate right to be called ; 

 and if the benchers refuse to call him, they ought 

 to assign a reason for so doing ; and if there be no 

 reason, or an insufficient one, then the member who 



has acquired such inchoate right is entitled to have 

 that right perfected. 



" With respect to the regulations and practice now 

 in force in the different inns of courts, relative to 

 the subjects referred to us under the present in- 

 quiry, we find them to be as follows. 

 " 1st. As to the admission of students. 

 " The following rules appear to have been adopted 

 by all the four societies. 



"Before any person can be admitted a member, 

 he must furnish a statement in writing, describing 

 his age, residence, and condition in life, and com- 

 prising a certificate of his respectability and fitness 

 to be admitted, which must be signed by the 

 party, and a bencher of the society, or two bar- 

 risters. 



" No person is admitted without the approbation 

 of a bencher, or of the benchers in council as- 

 sembled. 



" The applications must, before he can enter into 

 commons, (and in some societies on admission,) 

 sign a bond with surety conditioned to pay the 

 dues. Every person applying to be admitted a 

 member of any of the Inns must sign a declaration 

 that he is desirous of being admitted for the pur- 

 pose of being called to the bar, and it is required 

 by all the societies that he shall not, without the 

 special permission of the society, take out any cer- 

 tificate as a special pleader, conveyancer, &c. under 

 44 G. III. 98, and such permission is not granted 

 until the applicant has kept such commons as are 

 necessary to qualify him to be called to the bar, 

 and it is given for one year only at a time. 



" Besides these regulations, we are informed, that 

 at the Inner Temple, and at Gray's Inn, no person 

 is admissible while engaged in trade. It has also 

 been a rule at the Inner Temple, since the year 

 1829, that no person shall be admitted without a 

 previous examination, by a barrister appointed by 

 the bench for that purpose, in classical attainments 

 and the general subject of a liberal education. 

 Such examination is to include the Greek and Latin 

 languages, or one of them, and such subjects of 

 history and general literature as the examiners may 

 think suited to the age of the applicant. 

 " 2d. As to the call to the bar. 

 " The following regulations appear to be in force 

 in all the societies. No person in priest's or 

 deacon's orders can be called to the bar. No per- 

 son can be called to the bar while he is on the roll 

 of attorneys, solicitors, or proctors. Before a per- 

 son can be called to the bar, he must keep com- 

 mons for three years, that is, twelve terms, by 

 dining in the hall at least three times in each term. 

 He must have been a member of the Inn for five 

 years, unless he has taken the degree of master of 

 arts, or bachelor of law, at the universities of Ox- 

 ford, Cambridge, or Dublin, or at Lincoln's Inn, is 

 a member of the faculty of advocates in Scotland, 

 in which case he may be called after he has been a 

 member of the Inn for three years; but this ex- 

 ception does not extend to honorary degrees. 



"A student, previously to his keeping any of the 

 terms requisite for his call, must deposit with the 

 treasurer of the society one hundred pounds, to be 

 returned without interest, on his being called to 

 the bar; or in case of death, to his personal repre- 

 sentatives ; but this rule does not apply to any 

 person who shall produce a certificate of his hav- 

 ing kept two years terms in any of the universities 

 of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin, or at Lincoln's 

 Inn, of his being a member of the faculty of advo- 



