GRAY'S INN

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1577, 23 February 1927, Page 7

GRAY'S INN

A FAMOUS IMSTSTUtiOH I COLONIAL VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS An invitation from a. member of < Gray's Inn to lunch with him there was not to be declined by a Victorian barrister on a visit to London, for it ■, presented an opportunity of learning at ',' hrst-hand something of. one of those ancient schools of law that Ben Jonson declared to be " the noblest nurseries of humanity and liberty in tlie King- ■ dom" (writes " G.8.V.," in the Mel- • bourne 'Argus'). Though my host ■} was a member of. Gray's Inn, his : chambers were at Brick Court Temple-, [being nearer to the Courts of Justice j than Gray's Inn. Accordingly, one < maramg after having " mounted two :• I pairs of well-worn stone stairs I reached his chambers. By a fortunate -~i i accident there happened to be with < him, among others, &• barrister who t had been at Oxford in college with one 1 of the Victorian Rhodes Scholars now < holding a conspicuous position in the 1 scholastic world,,in Melbourne. I found 1 that a: barrister's chambers in -London i ■are not much different from those'at Selborne Chambers, except that in those , of the junior men there is, as at rule,' ho library, for-they are generally sub-tenants of a senior, and their tenancy entitles them to the use of his library. In such company and among such familiar : surroundings one immediately felt at home, aha it was good to find that a lawyer from one of she dominions was heartily welcomed by his learned friends in the Capital of the ( Empire, and to .note their interest in. and acquaintance with Australian ', affairs. : , , But lunch .stime .had arrived, so off we set across Fleet street, up Chan- i eery lane, through Lincoln's Inn fields, i i across Holborn, and thus reached < Gray's Inn. It (was refreshing to es- ! } cape from the busy thronging traffic of i ( Holborn into the quiet or '■ the seques-': < tcred courtyard and trim lawns of the ' inn, 'Jjst then in their brightest sum- ■ ] mer green. The hall, which is a hand- ■■:•, some ;, Tudor building of red _ brick, r } stands apart from the other buildings,, i and wears the sombre color of age, for it was completed early in the reign of 3 Queen Elizabeth. In dimensions it'' is c not large,_being barely half the size of t the Wilson Hall at-the Melbourne TJni> < versity. Internalhy it is a beautiful * building, with a nigh, hammer beam" } roof and many stained-glass windows. I At one end is a richly-carved screen ; ■ surmounted by a minstrel gallery of t dark oak, said' to have come from the ships of the Armada. On a dais at the c other end is the Bencher's table for , t members of the Inn who have been t elected to the rank of; Bencher, the' t central seat being reserved 'for ithe, l Treasurer, who is the senior officer or ■■'■■■l president of the fraternity. On the c floor on each side of the hall is a long:'} bench or table, and «at these the j humbler, members sit. .. PERSONALITIES IN THE HALL, t Entering the hall without ceremony, ;'j we joined v the-company' of ?ineihbers' 4 who were lunching /at, one of these i tables. The> friendly greeting one received when to these* men i i\s a member of the Victorian Bar, and t tfce "sympathy they showed with one's i quest for information about their Inn, ; 1 assured one of _ that spirit of camara- ';■■} derie which exists - among members of r? the legal profession, in whatever ?part .'•' of the Empire they are found. From- z time to time, as lunch proceeded, the \ vacant chairs at the Benchers' table i were filled, arid; as those grave .and e reverend seigneurs came in it was very interesting to have them identified, t There was Lord Justice Atkin, who had 1 just come up from the Royal Courts of ~:•« Justice; where he had;been sitting in ? the Court of Appeal. Then .sitting by ,j and chatting with his Lordship was Mr * Terrell, the ; expert in patent law. As ' others came in their names were;given * me,'and thus one had the opportunity j ] of seeing in propria- persona gome; of £ those eminent lawyers'; '. whose names j were familiar from their judgments i published in the reports,-or froni the i text books they ! have written. '■•"-' There ( is little doubt, that these informal 1 gatherings of members, of-the Bench and in their Inns of Court v 1 tend to establish, and confirm ;those c friendly relations which should'always ' exist between the Judges.and the; men ;■ ' who practise before theniV ;' /'';', Seated at a tabid by himself, on the , other, side of the hall; ; was a woman, i also taking her one member .1 of her sex brave enough to face tin's ;< large company of lawyers, for there ; iwere about 500 of us in all. She, too,y < I learned, was a member of the Bar,' < .for nowadays entrance to the legal pro- 1 fession in is no longer ■ the ' exclusive privilege of men, the equality /■ of the sexes; being recognised in this ; I as'in other spheres. Detecting what seemed to be a' note'of apology in : tlietone of my informant 1 hastened toassufe him that we in Victoria had..; long ago reached that advanced stage, but had not yet gone so far as to give women a seat in' Parliament, or in the jury box (though, indeed, there have lately been indications that we are fending in that direction). . j SOME FAMOUS MEMBERS. In the ball werejto be eeeh ||&rtraits in oil of several .members of ,-Gray's Inn who, by the eminence they attained • iii the: service of tlieir country on the Bench and otherwise, brought honor to their Alma Mater,' As one strolled, round the hall looking-at these portraits one felt that one was'in si;-'sense in the presence ; -of a company »'of .great;.nien who had played noble parts in the ,_ drama of British history, and whose memory the men of Gray's Inn. thus delight to honor. There hangs the portrait of' Sir Francis Bacon, ' r the largebrowed Verulam, the first of them that know." It was while in residence at :,; Gray's Inn that he wrote his Essayis, and to it after his fall, he retired "for quiet and the better to hold out:" j Here we come to Sir John ; Holt, ap- j pointed Chief Justice of the King's: Bench by William 111.v.--', Every law, student is familiar with; this i great judge's two monumental judgments in 'Smith's leading. Cases ~ih oh© of which he definitely established the ,)a*' as to bailments, and j in the other showed that electors have the right to be protected from any interference with the exercise of the franchise. Tl>portrait of Sir George Sowley Holroyd, who was a judge of the King's Bench in the early'-part of last, csnturyj was . particularly ihterestingr for it brought to mind Sir E. D. Holroyd, of the Victorian Supreme Court Bench, who was a relative, and also a member of Gray's Inn. What, appeared to he the . most recent addition to this portrait ', ; -... '. : '.';''Vy^^.- ; ''.'';v.>.v-.'-.;;. ! ; ■■ ■■■■■■<'''■■. ■■■■?■■■■"; ~■" ] ~'■''':,' -,;;i"*,.i -;,..-' -;. i.'•'■.■ •'.'•'' . -'-', ■-'■'•''■'. ' ' ' 1 ": '■,":;■:'■;.",:';; '•• v . ''sy; : ..."_,;>/: " • •.'.■

-gallery of eminent;;Benchers < was of Lord Birkenhead, taken when he was Lord Chancellor. i

Leaving the hall with all its deeply i' interesting historical associations, ive turned into the gardens,, or "walks," and enjoyed the cool shade of-the elms that Sir grands Bacon had, planted I when he was treasurer of the.jnn more [than three centuries ago. Indeed he 1 probably, when writing his ''Essay on Gardens*'. had in mind these very gardens that were originally laid out under his So we. found ourselves where Samel Pepys used to "meet; great store of gallants"~ while he strolled about "observing the fashions bf the ladies," fori in his days the "walks " , were a favorite rendezvous for people of fashion. And so 'out again into the busy hum of'the city, and down ;to: the Courts '■■■ of Justice to see the judges and barristers we, had met at lunch again hard at work. A; few years ago,while Mr Justice Isaacs was visiting London, the Benchers of Gray's Inn entertained him at; lunch in the hall, where'the Treasurer (Mr Justice Greer) said it was pleasant to think that it was possible. in™ the distant Commonwealth to create a, great apd-distinguished judge and a great lawyer. Mr Justice Isaacs assured the company that the common law of England was a great bond of unity, and the' sentiments "of 'the people .Sri England and : in Australia were similar..