Author Description
This is the first detailed analysis of English barristers and the inns of court in the period 1680-1730. The four inns of court have constituted the principal institutional home of common lawyers since medieval times, and by the ealy modern period were regarded as a "third university". Barristers were the preeminent professional men of Augustan England, and as such, they played a disproportionate role in the business of the Commons. Lemmings shows how the inns declined from their former splendor during the late seventeenth century until, by the reign of George II, they were principally dormitories and offices for a mass of non-lawyers. This original and thorough analysis draws on material from the archives of the inns to offer a fresh perspective on England under the last Stuarts and first Hanoverians.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the institutional decline of the English Inns of Court and the evolving professional identity of barristers during the transition from the late Stuart era to the early Hanoverian period. David Lemmings, a scholar of legal and social history, utilizes extensive archival records from the Inns of Court to reconstruct the professional lives of common lawyers. He argues that the Inns shifted from functioning as a 'third university' for the elite to serving primarily as administrative and residential spaces for non-legal professionals by the reign of George II.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the institutional structure and social composition of the four Inns of Court between 1680 and 1730.
- Examination of the political influence of barristers within the House of Commons during the Augustan age.
- Evidence derived from primary archival records, including admission registers and internal administrative documents of the Inns.
- A historical framework detailing the professionalization and subsequent institutional stagnation of the English Bar.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and legal scholars recognize this monograph as a foundational text for understanding the professional development of the English legal class. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the meticulous use of primary source data to support the author's institutional analysis.
Page Count:
344
Publication Date:
1990-04-19
Publisher:
Clarendon Press
ISBN-10:
019822155X
ISBN-13:
9780198221555
History
Lawyers
Professional History
Legal History
Inns Of Court
Justice Administration of
British History
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