Reader (Inns of Court)

A reader in one of the Inns of Court in London was originally a senior barrister of the Inn who was elected to deliver a lecture or series of lectures on a particular legal topic.¹² Two readers (known as Lent and Autumn Readers) would be elected annually to serve a one-year term.

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.³

By 1569, at Gray's Inn, there had been readers for more than a century. Before the rise of the benchers, they formed the governing body of the inn.²

References

"Inner Temple Admissions Database: Glossary". The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
Simpson, A.W.B. (1975). "The Early Constitution of Gray's Inn". Cambridge Law Journal. 34 (1). Cambridge University Press: 138–139. doi:10.1017/S0008197300092102. ISSN 0008-1973.
Ringrose, Hyacinthe (1909). The Inns of Court An Historical Description. Oxford: R.L. Williams. p. 81. OCLC 60732875.

[1] "Inner Temple Admissions Database: Glossary". The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2010.

[S-2] Simpson, A.W.B. (1975). "The Early Constitution of Gray's Inn". Cambridge Law Journal. 34 (1). Cambridge University Press: 138–139. doi:10.1017/S0008197300092102. ISSN 0008-1973.

[3] Ringrose, Hyacinthe (1909). The Inns of Court An Historical Description. Oxford: R.L. Williams. p. 81. OCLC 60732875.

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