Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/97

 I N N I N N 87 of Saxony surprised and took Innsbruck, almost capturing tlic emperor Charles V., to whom a mutiny among Maurice s troops afforded time for a hasty flight. In the war of the Spanish succes sion, and again in the patriotic Tyrolese wars at the beginning of the 19th century, Innsbruck suffered severely. During the com motions of 1848, lib was the temporary refuge of the emperor Fer dinand. INNS OF COURT. The Inns of Court and Chancery are voluntary non-corporate legal societies seated in London, having their origin about the end of the 13th and the commencement of the 14th century. Dugdale (Origines Juridiciales) states that the learned in our laws were anciently persons in holy orders, the justices of the king s court being bishops, abbots, and the like. But in 1207 the clergy were prohibited by canon from acting in the temporal courts. The result proving prejudicial to the interests of the community, a commission of inquiry was issued by Edward I. (1290), and this was followed up (1292) by a second commission, which among other things directed that students &quot; apt and eager &quot; should l)e brought from the provinces and placed in proximity to the courts of law now fixed by Magna Charta at West minster. These students were accordingly located in what became known as the Inns of Court and Chancery, the latter designated by Fortescue (De Laudibus) as &quot;the ear liest settled places for students of the law,&quot; the germ of what Sir Edward Coke subsequently spoke of as our English juridical university. In these Inns of Court and Chancery, thus constituted, and corresponding to the ordinary college, the students, according to Fortescue, not only studied the laws and divinity, but further learned to dance, sing, and play instrumental music, &quot;so that these, hostels, being nurseries or seminaries of the court, were therefore called Inns of Court.&quot; Stow in his Survey (1598) says: &quot;There is in and about this city a whole university, as it were, of students, practisers or pleaders, and judges of the laws of this realm;&quot; and he goes on to enumerate the several societies, fourteen in number, then existing, corresponding nearly with those recognized in the present day, of which the Inns of Court, properly so-called, are and always have been four, namely, Lincoln s Inn, with the subordinate Inns of Chancery, Furnival s Inn and Thavie s Inn ; the Inner Temple, with Clifford s Inn and Clement s Inn ; the Middle Temple, with New Inn ; and Gray s Inn, with Staple s Inn and Barnard s Inn. In addition to these may be specified Serjeant s Inn, a society composed solely of serjeants-at-law, which, however, ceased to exist in 1877. Besides the Inns of Chancery above enumerated, there were others, such as Lyon s Inn, which was pulled down as recently as 1868, and Scrope s Inn and Chester or Strand Inn, spoken of by Stow, which have long been removed, and the societies to which they belonged have disappeared. The four Inns of Court stand on a footing of complete equality, no priority being conceded to or claimed by one inn over another. Their jurisdictions and privileges are equal, and upon affairs of common interest the benchers of the four inns meet in conference. From the earliest times there has been an interchange of fellowship between the four houses ; nevertheless the Middle Temple and Lincoln s Inn, and the Inner Temple and Gray s Inn. have main tained a closer alliance. The members of an Inn of Court consist of benchers, barristers, and students. The benchers are the governing bodies of the inns, and are composed of the senior mem bers, designated also more formally &quot;masters &quot;of the bench.&quot; They are self-elected, and unrestricted as to numbers ; usually, but not invariably, a member of an inn, on attaining the rank of queen s counsel, is invited to the bench. Other members of long standing are also occasionally chosen, but no member by becoming a queen s counsel or by seniority of standing acquires the right of being nominated a bencher. The benchers thus elected vary in number from twenty in Gray s Inn to seventy and upwards in Lincoln s Inn and the Inner Temple. The powers of the benchers are practically without limit within their respective societies ; their duties, how ever, are restricted to the superintendence and manage ment of the concerns of the inn, the admission of candi dates as students, the calling of them to the bar, and the exercise of discipline generally over the members. The judges of the superior courts are the visitors of the inns, and to them alone can an appeal be had when either of the societies refuses to call a member to the bar, or to reinstate in his privileges a barrister who has been dis barred for professional or other misconduct. The meetings of the benchers are variously denominated a &quot; parliament &quot; in the Inner and Middle Temples, a &quot; pension &quot; in Gray s Inn, and a &quot; council &quot; in Lincoln s Inn. The presiding or chief officer is the treasurer, one of the benchers, who is elected annually to that dignity. Other benchers fulfil the duties of master of the library, master of the walks or gardens, dean of the chapel, and so forth, while others are readers, whose functions are referred to below. Under the term barrister are included generally all those members of an Inn of Court who, after due probation, and being at least twenty-one years of age, have been called to that rank by the benchers of the inn of which they have been students. For a notice of these the reader is referred to the article BARRISTERS (vol. iii. p. 394), but some further details respecting their connexion with these societies may be fitly given here. Each inn confers this status or degree on its own members only. The grade of barrister comprehends the attorney-general and solicitor- general (appointed by and holding office solely at the will of the Government of the day), who rank as the heads of the profession, queen s counsel, and ordinary practitioners, sometimes technically known as &quot;utter barristers.&quot; There is also the practitioner &quot; below the bar,&quot; the lowest in the ranks of the forensic hierarchy, who limits his practice to those special branches of the law designated pleading and conveyancing, and is precluded by the fact of his not having been &quot;called&quot; from appearing in court. The usages of the different inns varied somewhat for merly in regard both to the term of probationary student ship enforced and to the procedure involved in a call to the bar. In the present day complete uniformity is observed in all respects, the entrance examination, the course of study, and the examinations required to be passed on the completion of the curriculum being identical and common to all the inns alike. When once called to the bar, the barrister is left to follow his own will in regard to entering into active practice or with respect to the special branch of the law he may elect to pursue, no hindrance beyond pro fessional etiquette limiting his freedom of action in any way ; so also members may on application to the benchers, and on payment of arrears of dues (if any), leave the society to which they belong, and thus cease altogether to be members of the bar likewise. Barristers rank as esquires, and are privileged from arrest whilst in attend ance on the superior courts and on circuit, and also from serving on juries. They enjoy unfettered freedom of speech, though this confers no right to utter slander. On the other hand, a barrister has no legal remedy for the recovery of his fees, and it is not competent for him to enter into any contract for payment by his client with respect to litigation. A member of an Inn of Court re tains his name on the lists of his inn for life by means of a small annual payment varying from 1 to 5, which at one or two of the inns is now compounded for by a fixed sum taken at the call to the bar. A distinctive dress is