said society; but it was denied by the Court, because there is none in the Inns of Court to whom the writ can be directed; because it is no body corporate, but only a voluntary society, submitting to government, and they were angry with him for it that he had waived the ancient and usual course of redress for any grievance in the Inns of Court which was by appealing to the judges, and would have him do so

now."

*

The following are the facts of Savage's case, brought before the judges, on appeal in the year 1780:

"The first day of Hilary Term an appeal of one, Maurice Savage, against an order of the benchers of Lincoln's Inn, which rescinded an order for his call to the bar, made about four or five days before, on the ground of misrepresentation or surprise, was heard by all the judges, except Chief Justice De Grey, in Serjeants' Inn Hall. He had been a member of the Middle Temple nine or ten years, had kept and paid for his commons, and performed all his exercises there; and, in 1772, was proposed by a master of the bench, the first Parliament in the term, to be called to the bar; (the course in that house being to hold a parliament on the first and last Friday in every term, the person to be proposed at the first, and called to the bar at the last parliament;) but he waived that proposal, and, in Trinity Term last, petitioned to have the proposal

* 1 Doug. 355, from Mr. Justice Gould's MS. note.

EE

revived, but the bench refused it, and no master of the bench would propose him again. On Saturday (as the term ended on Wednesday) he had a certificate, from the under-treasurer of the Middle Temple, of his keeping and paying for commons, and performing his exercises, which he carried to the under-treasurer of Lincoln's Inn that Saturday, paid his fees of admission in that society, and the Tuesday following was called to the bar there, and next day took the oaths to government in Westminster Hall. But he did not disclose to the undertreasurer of Lincoln's Inn what had passed in the Temple. The society of Lincoln's Inn hearing of this matter, issued a summons to him to appear, three days after, to shew cause why his call to the bar should not be vacated, and, after hearing him four days afterwards, annulled the call to the bar as irregular, and obtained by surprise. The judges being attended by the treasurers of the two societies, and examining the under-treasurers of each, (not upon oath, for they proceeded as visitors,) and the above circumstance fully appearing, and after hearing Savage in support of his appeal, who did not examine any one to vary the facts, declared their opinion, that the call to the bar, appearing to have been obtained by surprise, and the bench of Lincoln's Inn having proceeded immediately to annul it, the appeal should be dismissed."

The proceedings in a case which was heard on

appeal in Serjeants' Inn Hall, June, 1845, were conducted in a similar manner.

A. Hayward, Esq., a barrister of the Inner Temple, having been created one of her Majesty's Counsel, and feeling aggrieved at not being called to the bench of this house, where Queen's Counsel have usually been raised to the dignity of bencher, appealed to the judges as visitors of the Inns of Court in support of his claim to be called to the bench; who, after elaborate arguments in Serjeants' Inn conducted for the appellant by Sir Thomas Wilde, and Mr. Merivale, and afterwards by Mr. Serjeant Talfourd and Mr. Merivale, and for the respondent, first by Sir Charles Wetherell, and then by Sir Frederick Thesiger, delivered the following judgment:

"The judges who heard this petition argued, in the exercise of their general visitorial power, think it right to declare their unanimous opinion that the Benchers of the Inner Temple have the right to determine,-first, whether they will add to their number by any new election; and, secondly, which of the Members of the Bar belonging to their Society they will elect to call to the Bench.

The judges, therefore, are all of opinion that the petitioner had no inchoate right to be called to the Bench; but they all think that the mode of election, by which a single black ball* will exclude, is unreasonable; and

* At a very full assemblage of the benchers held in Hilary Term, 1847, it was unanimously resolved that henceforth no one shall be elected to the bench of the Inner Temple, unless he obtain the votes of a majority of the existing benchers, and that four black balls shall be sufficient to exclude.

they strongly recommend the Benchers of the Inner Temple, in future, to conduct their elections to the Bench on some more satisfactory principle.

CHAPTER XII.

DEGREES IN THE INNS OF COURT.

STUDENTS.

GENTLEMEN preparing for the Bar from this class, while keeping their terms, usually enter the chambers of special pleaders, equity draughtsmen, or conveyancers, where they acquire experience in the actual practice of the law. They have access to the libraries of their several Inns, and are now required to attend courses of lectures in the halls of the societies, on various parts of law. In the Middle Temple lectures are delivered on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law; in Gray's Inn on the law of Real Property; in the Inner Temple on the Common Law; in Lincoln's Inn on Equity. There are also lectures delivered on Constitutional and Legal History, by a reader appointed by the four societies jointly. The students may also cultivate their rhetorical powers and practise legal argument at the various forensic societies. In the halls of the Inns of Court they wear a black gown, without