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Survey of London: Law Schools

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Houses of students of the Com
mon Lawe.
BUt besides all this there is in and about this Citie a whole Uniuersitie
A vniuersity of students in & about this Citie.
(as it were) of students, practisers or pleaders and Iudges of the laws of this realme, not liuing of com
mon stipends (as in other Uniuersities it is for the most part done) but of their own pri
uate maintenance, as being altogether fedde eyther by their places, or practise, or other
wise by their proper reuenew, or exhibition of parents and friends: for that the younger sort are eyther gentlemen, or the sonnes of gentlemen, or of other most wealthie persons.
Houses of stu
dents of the commō lawes and Iudges.
Of these houses, there be at this day 14. in all, whereof 9. do stand within the liber
ties of the Citie, and 5. in the subburbes thereof, to wit:
Within the
liberties.
Sergeants Inne in Fleetstreet
Sergeants Inne in Chancery lane 		for Iudges & Sergeants only
The Inner Temple
The Middle Temple 		in Fleetstreete, houses of
Court.
Cliffords Inne in Fleetstreet
Thauies Inne in Oldborne
Furniuals Inne in Oldborne
Barnards Inne, in Oldborne
Staple Inne in Oldborne 		houses of
Chauncerie
Without the
liberties.
Grayes Inne in Oldborne
Lincolnes Inne, in Chancerie, lane by
   the old Temple in Oldborne. 		houses of
Court
Clements Inne
New Inne
Lyons Inne 		houses of Chauncerie, without
   Temple barre
One
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59
Students of the Common Lawes.
One other Inne of Chauncery sometime there was, called Chesters Inne,
Chesters Inne or strand Inne
for the néerenes to the Bishop of Chesters house, but more commonly tearmed Strand Inne, for that it stoode néere to the Strand bridge without temple Barre: the which and o
ther dwelling houses néere adioyning, were pulled downe in the raigne of king Edward the sixt, by Edward Duke of Sommerset and Protector of the realme, who in place thereof raised that beau
tifull (but yet vnperfect house) called Sommerset house. There was moreouer in the raigne of King Henrie the sixt, a tenth house of Chauncerie, mentioned by Iustice Fortscue in his booke of the Lawes of England, but where it stood or when it was abandoned I cannot finde, and therefore I will leaue it, and returne to the rest.
The houses of Court
Houses of Court what they be.
bee replenished partly with young stu
dentes, and partly with graduates and practisers of the law: but the Innes of Chauncery being as it were, prouinces, seuerally subiected to the Innes of Court, be chiefly furnished with Officers Atturneyes, Soliciters, and clarkes, that follow the courtes of the Kings Bench, or common place: and yet there want not some other being young students, that come thether sometimes from one of the vniuersities, and sometimes immediatly from Gram
mer schools, and these hauing spent some time in studying vpon the first elements and grounds of the lawe, and hauing performed the exercises of their owne houses (called Boltas Mootes, and putting of cases) they procéed to be admitted, and become students in some of these foure houses or Innes of Court, where continuing by the space of seuen yeares (or thereaboutes) they frequent readinges, méetinges, boltinges, and other learned exercises, whereby grow
ing ripe in the knowledge of the lawes, and approued withall to be of honest conuersation, they are eyther by the generall consent of the Benchers (or Readers) being of the most auncient, graue, and iudiciall men of euery Inne of the Court, or by the special pri
uiledge of the present reader there, selected and called to the degrée of Vtter Barresters, and so enabled to bee common counsellers, & to practise the lawe, both in their chambers and at the Barres.
Of these after that they be called to a further steppe of prefer
ment, (called the Bench) there are twaine euery yeare chosen a
mong
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60
Of Orders and Customes.
mong the Benchers, of euery Inne of Court, to be readers there, who do make their readings at two times in the yeare also: that is, one in Lent, and the other at the beginning of August.
And for the helpe of young students in euery of the Innes of Chauncery, they do likewise choose out of euery one Inne of court a Reader (being no Bencher) but an Vtter Barrester there, of 10 or 12. yeares continuance, and of good profite in studie. Nowe from these of the said degrée of Councellors (or Vtter Barrester) hauing continued therein the space of fourtéene or fiftéene yeares at the least, the chiefest and best learned, are by the benchers elected to increase the number (as I said) of the Bench amongst them, and so in their time doe become first single, and then double rea
ders, to the students of those houses of Court: after which last reading they be named Apprentices at the lawe,
Apprentizes at the law.
and in default of a sufficient number of Sargeantes at law, these are (at the pleasure of the prince) to be aduaunced to the places of Sergeants: out of which number of Sergeants also the void places of Iudges are likewise ordinarily filled, albeit now and then some be aduan
ced by the speciall fauour of the Prince, to the estate, dignitie and place, both of Sergeant and Iudge, as it were in one instant. But from thenceforth they hold not any roome in those Innes of court, being translated to one of the said two Innes, called Sergeantes Innes, where none but the Sergeants and Iudges do conuere.

Cite this page

MLA citation

Stow, John, and William fitz Stephen. Survey of London: Law Schools. The Map of Early Modern London, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 20 Jun. 2018, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_law.htm.

Chicago citation

Stow, John, and William fitz Stephen. Survey of London: Law Schools. The Map of Early Modern London. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 20, 2018. http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_law.htm.

APA citation

Stow, J., & fitz Stephen, W. 2018. Survey of London: Law Schools. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London. Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_law.htm.

RIS file (for RefMan, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
A1  - Stow, John
A1  - fitz Stephen, William
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Survey of London: Law Schools
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/06/20
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_law.htm
UR  - http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/xml/standalone/stow_1598_law.xml
ER  -

RefWorks

RT Web Page
SR Electronic(1)
A1 Stow, John
A1 fitz Stephen, William
A6 Jenstad, Janelle
T1 Survey of London: Law Schools
T2 The Map of Early Modern London
WP 2018
FD 2018/06/20
RD 2018/06/20
PP Victoria
PB University of Victoria
LA English
OL English
LK http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/stow_1598_law.htm

TEI citation

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