15 Facts About Lincoln's Inn

Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar.

Lincoln's Inn is situated in Holborn, in the London Borough of Camden, just on the border with the City of London and the City of Westminster, and across the road from London School of Economics and Political Science, Royal Courts of Justice and King's College London's Maughan Library.

In 1537, the land Lincoln's Inn sat on was sold by Bishop Richard Sampson to a Bencher named William Suliard, and his son sold the land to Lincoln's Inn in 1580.

The Lincoln's Inn became formally organised as a place of legal education thanks to a decree in 1464, which required a Reader to give lectures to the law students there.

Lincoln's Inn had no constitution or fundamental form of governance, and legislation was divided into two types; statutes, passed by the Governors and ordinances issued by the Society .

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The increase of the size of the Lincoln's Inn led to a loss of its partially democratic nature, first in 1494 when it was decided that only Benchers and Governors should have a voice in calling people to the Bar and, by the end of the sixteenth century, Benchers were almost entirely in control.

The term originally referred to one who sat on the benches in the main hall of the Lincoln's Inn, which were used for dining and during moots, and the term originally had no significance.

In common with the other Inns, Lincoln's Inn has a "Royal Bencher"—a member or members of the Royal Family who have been elected Benchers.

Lincoln's Inn is surrounded by a brick wall separating it from the neighbourhood; this was first erected in 1562, and it is said that Ben Jonson did some of the brickwork.

The Lincoln's Inn Act 1860 was passed directly to allow the Inn to charge the various freeholders in the Square fees.

Lincoln's Inn has maintained a corps of volunteers in times of war since 1585, when 95 members of the Inn made a pledge to protect Queen Elizabeth against Spain.

The Lincoln's Inn's membership had grown to the point where the Old Hall was too small for meetings, and so the Benchers decided to construct a new hall, containing sizable rooms for their use, and a library.

Lincoln's Inn has self-funded a major improvement and extension of its facilities from 2016 to 2018.

The Lincoln's Inn being a conservation area and consisting of listed buildings could not simply add modern structures within the precincts without considerable difficulty of their impact on the current layout and planning objections by interest groups, as well indeed from members of the Lincoln's Inn.

Many years, the Lincoln's Inn used the arms of the 3rd Earl of Lincoln as their own; in blazon, a "lion rampant purpure in a field or", which is a purple lion on a gold field.