Pump Court is a courtyard in Temple, London, now primarily housing barristers' chambers. It is the first on the left in Middle Temple Lane from 6 Fleet Street, leading to Inner Temple Lane and Lamb's Buildings. [1] Its name referred to the pump in the middle. [2]
In the year following 1 Car 1 (1625), brick buildings were erected in the Pump Court. In 1637 (13 Car 1), the rest of the brick buildings in the Pump Court were set up. [3]
Many famous figures have lived in Pump Court including William Blackstone, William Cowper, Henry Fielding, Lord Russell of Killowen and Viscount Alverstone, his successor as Lord Chief Justice of England. There is a sundial with a motto that reads "shadows we are and like shadows depart" to remind the residents of the ephemeral character of their occupancy. [4] This sundial was put up in 1686, and there is an entry in the accounts in respect of it which reads "25th Nov. 1686 Sun Dial in Pump Court £6. 5. 0." [5] It is renovated periodically, and on each of these occasions it was customary for the year and the initials of the Treasurer for the time being to be placed in the centre of the dial. [6] It was restored in 1861. [7] After it was renovated and repainted in 1903, the inscription in the centre read "T. Sir R. B. F. 1903" the Treasurer of the Middle Temple for that year being the Attorney General, Sir Robert Finlay. The insignia of the Middle Temple, the Lamb and Flag, "stood out very boldly" in gold at the top, and the motto was at the bottom. [6] The inscription in the centre was subsequently replaced with "T O M 1686". [8] [9]
Joseph Chitty the elder trained in succession in his pupil room here "a great number of the most eminent lawyers". [10]
The Filazers', Exigenters' and Clerk of the Outlawries' Office for the Court of King's Bench was here. These officers were so called from the French word Fil, or thread, because they filed or threaded the writs. Thomas Kenyon was Filazer, Exigenter and Clerk of the Outlawries, and Andrew Edge was Filazer for Essex and Monmouthshire. [11]
The Warrant of Attorney Office was here. [12] This was an address of William Draper Best MP. [13] This is now home to the Chambers of Oba Nsugbe QC SAN and has been a western circuit set of barristers chambers since approximately 1943. It now comprises 99 barristers and 12 clerks.
Henry Fielding lived here. [14]
5 Pump Court Chambers is one of the oldest established barristers' chambers in London. It has been in continuous existence since 1870. It now comprises 57 barristers and 8 clerks. [15]
Morris Simeon Oppenheim had chambers here, where he committed suicide on 3 January 1883. [16]
6 Pump Court Chambers specializes in environmental law, international arbitration, planning, health and safety law and all other types of regulatory law, as well as all forms of criminal law, civil law, employment and family law. It is ranked as a Band 1 set in the leading UK directories. Its barristers have included Judge William Aldous, Judge Douglas Falconer, Natasha Hausdorff, Judge Michael Hyam, and Justice Christina Lambert. Members of Chambers appear before all levels of courts. [17]
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The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court 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 located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. As a liberty, it functions largely as an independent local government authority.
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these inns. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple, and Gray's Inn.
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, a person must belong to one of these Inns. It is located in the wider Temple area, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. As a liberty, it functions largely as an independent local government authority.
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary of the Cities of London and Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was named.
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple.
The Temple is an area of the City of London surrounding Temple Church. It is one of the main legal districts in London and a notable centre for English law, from the Middle Ages to the present day. It consists of the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, which are two of the four Inns of Court and act as local authorities in place of the City of London Corporation as to almost all structures and functions. Before the establishment of these Inns of Court, the Temple area was the precinct given to the Knights Templar until they were suppressed in 1312, but the area has retained the name from that time. It became a centre of the legal profession soon afterwards.
Sir William Aldous was an English judge and a judge in the Gibraltar Court of Appeal.
The Inns of Chancery or Hospida Cancellarie were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from at least 1344, the Inns gradually changed their purpose, and became both the offices and accommodation for solicitors and a place of initial training for barristers.
Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecution.
Serjeant's Inn was the legal inn of the Serjeants-at-Law in London. Originally there were two separate societies of Serjeants-at-law: the Fleet Street inn dated from 1443 and the Chancery Lane inn dated from 1416. In 1730, the Fleet Street lease was not renewed and the two societies merged. The society's relevance diminished as Serjeants-at-Law were gradually superseded by Queen's Counsel in the nineteenth century. The building in Chancery Lane was sold in 1877 and the assets were distributed amongst the surviving members, although the society was not formally dissolved. The last member, Lord Lindley, died in 1921. The Fleet Street building was destroyed in the 1941 bombing raids during World War II.
Clifford's Inn is the name of both a former Inn of Chancery in London and a present mansion block on the same site. It is located between Fetter Lane and Clifford's Inn Passage in the City of London. The Inn was founded in 1344 and refounded 15 June 1668. It was dissolved in 1903, and most of its original structure was demolished in 1934, save for a gateway which survives. It was both the first Inn of Chancery to be founded and the last to be demolished. The mansion block was built in the late 1930s preserving the name.
Paper Buildings are a set of chambers located in the Inner Temple in Temple, London. They were initially constructed in 1609. Paper Buildings appear in A Tale of Two Cities and Barnaby Rudge.
Brick Court Chambers is a set of barristers' chambers in the Temple district of central London. It specialises in commercial, EU, competition and public law. It is considered by legal commentators to be one of the 'Magic Circle' of London's most prestigious commercial barristers' chambers. Brick Court Chambers was founded in 1921 by William Jowitt KC, who later became Lord Chancellor. It rose to prominence in the 1970s, with an increase in shipping and international trade litigation.
The Outer Temple is a building next to the Temple area in London, just outside the City of London. In the 14th century, the property seized from the Knights Templar was divided, and that part of the Temple property then just outside London was given the name Outer Temple. It has been suggested that the name Outer Temple once also referred to an Inn of Chancery; its historical existence was first posited by A. W. B. Simpson and confirmed by John Baker in 2008. Little is known of it, other than that it lacked a hall; Baker suggests that this is the reason that it did not survive long enough to appear in many records. Other writers have insisted that it was never an inn: Sir George Buck wrote in 1612 "the Utter Temple neither is nor was ever any college or society of students". Regardless, although the present building takes the name, and is located in the area once known as outer-Temple, it is not otherwise historically connected.
Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn were constructed from 1774 to 1780. The architect was Sir Robert Taylor. Stone Buildings is a Grade I listed building. Stone Buildings appear in Anthony Trollope's novel The Prime Minister.
King's Bench Walk is a street in Temple, in the City of London. It is mainly made up of barristers' chambers.
Barbara Adamson Calvert, QC, known as The Lady Lowry after her second marriage, was a British barrister specialising in family law. She was the first woman to be a head of chambers when she founded 4 Brick Court in 1974.
2 Hare Court is a barristers' chambers specialising in criminal and regulatory law, located in the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of court. Established in the 1967, It employs 77 barristers, including 23 King's Counsel and several former prosecutors, including those who have acted as First Senior, Senior and Junior Treasury Counsel – barristers appointed by the Attorney General to prosecute the most serious and complex criminal cases to come before the courts.
The Royal Commission on the Inns of Court carried out an investigation into the Inns of Court and associated Inns of Chancery between 1854 and 1855. The inns were medieval guild-like institutions that provided accommodation for lawyers and had developed gradually into centres for legal education. All barristers in the country had to be a member of one of the inns. It included many of the leading lawyers and jurists of the time. The commission found many of the inns, particularly the Inns of Chancery, were ineffective at educating students and recommended the creation of a single university of law. Steps were taken to accomplish this and a parliamentary bill was prepared but it was never achieved. The commission did, however, have an influence on legal education for decades and was a factor in the establishment of modern law schools at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and London.
The New Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery or Hospida Cancellarie. It existed from the late 15th century until 1902 and was located near Aldwych in London.