Inner Temple
An Introduction to the Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four inns of court which between them are responsible for the selection, training and regulation of barristers in England and Wales. It occupies the eastern half of a site, known as the Temple, which was chosen by the crusading Knights Templar in the twelfth century as their London headquarters. The round church which they constructed there, modelled on the Church of St. Sepulchre in Jerusalem, still forms part of the Temple Church. By the mid-fourteenth century, when the royal courts became permanently sited in Westminster, the Temple had become a home for lawyers who formed two societies there, the Inner and the Middle Temple, each occupying one of the halls constructed by the Templars on the site. Their status was formally recognised in 1608, when James I granted the land jointly to them in perpetuity for the accommodation, entertainment and education of students and practitioners of the law. Although the buildings which it occupies have changed considerably over time, the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple continues to fulfil this role to the present day.
Past members of the Inner Temple include famous lawyers, such as Sir William Gascoigne (d.1419), Sir Thomas Littleton (d.1481), Sir Edward Coke (d.1634), John Selden (d.1654) and Judge Jeffreys (d.1685); prime ministers, George Grenville and Clement Atlee; authors and humourists including Bram Stoker, A P Herbert, W S Sullivan and John Mortimer; foreign statesmen, notably Mahatma Ghandi and Jawaharlal Nehru; the economist, John Maynard Keynes; the legal philosopher, John Austin; and the historians, Henry Hallam and AJP Taylor. Royal Benchers have included James II, George VI and currently Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the Princess Royal. Claims have been made for Geoffrey Chaucer's membership of the Inner Temple. Although yet to be corroborated, Chaucer was certainly familiar with the Temple, which is mentioned in his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
