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Middle Temple
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The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn.
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The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is near the Royal Courts of Justice, within the City of London.
In the 13th century, the Inns of Court originated as hostels and schools for student lawyers. The Middle Temple is the western part of "The Temple", the headquarters of the Knights Templar until they were dissolved in 1312; the awe-inspiring Temple Church still stands as a "peculiar" (extra-diocesan) church of the Inner and Middle Temples. There has never been an "Outer Temple", apart from a modern office block of that name - an order of 1337 refers to repairing the lane "through the middle of the Court of the Temple", which became known as Middle Temple Lane and probably gave its name to the Inn.
The Inns stopped being responsible for legal education in 1852, although they continue to provide supplementary training in areas such as advocacy and ethics for students, pupil barristers and newly-qualified barristers. Most of the Inn is occupied by barristers' offices, known as "chambers". One of the Middle Temple's main functions now is to provide support for new members to the profession. This is done through the provisions of scholarships (£1 million in 2005), subsidised accommodation both in the Temple and in Clapham , and by providing events where junior members may meet their more senior colleagues for help and advice.
Middle Temple Hall is at the heart of the Inn, and the Inn's student barristers are required to dine there for a minimum number of nights for several terms. The dinners are sometimes followed by lectures or debates. Middle Temple Hall is also a popular venue for banqueting, weddings, receptions and parties. In recent years it has become a much-used film location - the cobbled streets, historic buildings and gas lighting give it a unique atmosphere. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night received its first performance here, at the feast Candlemas in 1602.
Middle Temple is also one of the few remaining liberties, an old name for a geographic division. Inner Temple is another.
Eminent Members and Benchers
- Clive Anderson, Television presenter
- Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
- William Blackstone, Jurist and author of Commentaries on the Laws of England
- Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of the Lok Sabha of India
- Anthony Clarke (Master of the Rolls)
- Brajendranath De, ICS, Commissioner of Burdwan, Bengal
- Romesh Dutt, ICS, Dewan of Baroda
- Paul Jenkins (lawyer), current Treasury Solicitor
- Igor Judge, Baron Judge, current Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, current Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
- G.P. Pillai, One of the earliest practising Advocates of the High Court of Madras
- Walter Raleigh, Governor of Jersey
- Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty
- Anand Ramlogan, Human Rights Attorney
- Mark Rylance, honorary Bencher, awarded in acknowledgement of his 400th anniversary production of Twelfth Night mounted in Hall on 2 February 2002.
- Patricia Scotland, former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales
- Raja Sir Maharaj Singh, First Indian Governor of Bombay
- Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales.
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