Inns Of Chancery

Concept of Inns of Chancery

Traditional meaning of inns of chancery [1] in the English common law history: Clifford’s Inn, Clement’s Inn, New Inn, Staple Inn, and Barnard’s Inn; formerly also Furnival’s Inn, the Strand Inn, Lyon’s Inn, and Thavies’ Inn, with Serjeants’ Inn, which consisted of Serjeants only. They were formerly preparatory colleges for students, inhabited by clerks in chancery, attorneys, etc.; but performed no public functions, and are now sunk into insignificance; see 1st Book (“The Rights of Persons”), Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 23, 25. [rtbs name=”history-of-english-law”]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Based on A concise law dictionary of words, phrases and maxims, “Inns of Chancery”, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911, United States. This term and/or definition may be absolete. It is also called the Stimson’s Law dictionary, based on a glossary of terms, included Inns of Chancery.

See Also