Horace Rumpole: Ah, juries are rather like God Almighty, Mr. Skinner, totally unpredictable.
Horace Rumpole: Murder is nothing more than common assault… with unfortunate consequences.
In England, we have such good manners that if someone says something impolite, the police will get involved.
-Russell Brand
“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.”
–Robert Frost
Mattie Ross: Do you need a good lawyer?
Lucky Ned Pepper: I need a good judge…
-True Grit
“The main difference between a lawyer and a prostitute is that a prostitute won’t screw you after you’re dead.”
― Mark R. Jones
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.
King Henry VI, Part II (Act IV, Scene II)
“If I were a lawyer, I’d only date women named Sue.”
― Jarod Kintz, $3.33
“We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather
Horace Rumpole: The food here is like my jokes – not always in the best of taste.
Sites/Topics covered in this post:
- Platform 9 ¾
- British Library
- Lawyers’ London
- Museum of Natural History
Go-Date: Day 162, Wednesday, July 3
Lesson Learned: Forget the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus in London. They are expensive, the narration is sketchy and boring, the streets are clogged in central London, and their seats are uncomfortable. Central London is very walkable, so pick some sights, lace up your sneakers, and get some exercise. You’ll sure to find some interesting things along the way that you didn’t expect.
If you want to get a good feel for the entire city. Pick a place you want to see, find out the bus route that gets there (or two or three connections), climb aboard a typical double decker city bus, sit back and watch the city blocks slip by. The busses are clean, comfortable, use the Oyster card just like on the tube, and you can really get the feel for the city. I’ll recommend the #31 route, this gives you a great ride through Chelsea, Kensington, and Notting Hill. Have fun, enjoy, oh and there is a huge mall at one end of the line if you need to buy a pair of “trainers” as the Brits say for your slog through the City.
Harry Potter, Off to the Hogwart’s Express
Ellen and I have always been a bit of Harry Potter fans, not that we are obsessive about it, play Quidditch, own a wand, pet owl or the like, but we do find that on our visit we look about London to see if one can spot locations made famous in the books or movies. Well, King’s Cross station and platform 9/4 meet that criteria. Strangely, we saw King’s Cross when we first arrived in London from Paris, but this fact didn’t register with us. It could be we were wrestling with bags, customs, fighting crowds, and looking for a taxi. The station (metro & rail) is directly across the street from St. Pancras (Eurostar) station. In fact, many of the scenes in the movie (on the outside) are of St. Pancras, and not King’s Cross station. But, keeping in line with the story……..
It was Evangeline Orpington, minister of magic from 1849-1855, who hit upon the solution of adding a concealed platform at the newly (Muggle) built King’s Cross station, which would be accessible only to witches and wizards. On the whole, this has worked well, although there have been minor problems over the ensuing years, such as witches and wizards who have dropped suitcases full of spellbooks or potions, or a chocolate frog or two all over the station floor, or else disappeared through the solid barrier a little too loudly.
King’s Cross, which is one of London’s main railway stations, legend has it that King’s Cross station was built on the site of Boudicca’s last battle (Boudicca was an ancient British Queen who led a rebellion against the Romans) or at least its built on the site of her tomb. Supposedly her grave is situated somewhere in the region of platforms eight to ten. J.K. Rowling said that “I did not know this when I gave the wizards’ platform its number.” King’s Cross Station takes its name from a now-demolished monument to King George IV.
Well, even though it is just a tourist trap with a gift shop, we still strayed about 100 feet off our route to look around for a couple of minutes. We were amazed to find well over 100 people standing in line to pay to have their picture taken with a baggage cart seemingly vanishing into a brick wall. Hmmmm, wonder if I could do the same with a tree stump, an ax, in Alexandria just outside Mount Vernon? I cannot tell a lie, probably not.
Library of Britain
On our way out of King’s Cross, while looking for someplace nice to eat, we stumbled upon the Library of Britain. What a delightful stumble that was. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and the largest national library in the world determined by number of items cataloged. It is estimated to contain 150–200 million+ items from many countries. The British Library is a major research library, with items in many languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings.
Its’ also a wonderful repository of British documents and historical items. The Library’s collections include around 14 million books, countless (well, I’m sure they have counted them) manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 2000 BCE. In addition to receiving a copy of every publication produced in the UK and Ireland (approximately 8,000 per day), the Library has a program for content acquisitions. The Library adds some three million items every year. It’s a huge building with space for over 1,200 readers. We had to queue up to get into the door.
Prior to 1973, the Library was part of the British Museum. A number of books and manuscripts are on display to the public in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery which is open seven days a week at no charge. Some manuscripts in the exhibition include Beowulf, the Lindisfarne Gospels and St Cuthbert Gospel, a Gutenberg Bible, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (King Arthur), Captain Cook’s journal, Jane Austen’s History of England, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and a room devoted solely to Magna Carta, as well as several Qur’ans and Asian items. They also had a lot of Beatles memorabilia. After that, there’s some important stuff.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, there are frequent thematic exhibitions which have covered maps, sacred texts, history of the English language, and law, including a celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.
For those who don’t know, the Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for “the Great Charter of the Liberties”), commonly called Magna Carta is a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215 during a revolt of the British barons who thought John was a real prick (which he was). First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons’ War.
Things settled down after a year thanks to John kicking the bucket. He is infamous for his involvement in Magna Carta, for losing the crown jewels in the Wash, and as the villain of the Robin Hood legend. Now, he didn’t lose the crown jewels in the laundry, how dumb would that be? It was the year after the Magna Carta was signed, the King was cranky, the country was in revolt and he was having to quell rebellion uprisings. He had been travelling from the port of King’s Lynn to Lincoln when, according to historical chronicles, the treasure was lost. “Ooops, did you happen to see the jewels? I may have left them at the Holiday Inn in Dumbwitty. Do check with house services to see if they found them”. History’s verdict on him has been thoroughly negative and no subsequent English monarch has wanted to be called John. Rumor has it that Prince William my choose King John as his name, but will be King John, of Lennon .
John came down with a bad case dysentery, or was it poison? He went to Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire and died on the night of October 18th, aged 48. John’s body was taken for burial in Worcester Cathedral. After John’s death, the regency government of his young son, Henry III, reissued the document in 1216, stripped of some of its more radical content, in an unsuccessful bid to build political support for their cause.
The charter became part of English political life and was typically renewed by each monarch in turn, although as time went by and the fledgling English Parliament passed new laws, it lost some of its practical significance. The Magna Carta still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities, Lord Denning describing it as “the greatest constitutional document of all times – the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot”. In the 21st century, four exemplifications of the original 1215 charter remain in existence, two at the British Library, one at Lincoln Cathedral and one at Salisbury Cathedral. Hey, how many times can you say you stumbled upon an original copy of the Magna Carta by accident. We thought it was still being held in the British Museum like it was the last time we were here.
Knowledge of the Law is a Bit of a Handicap to a Barrister.
The law, and how its practiced in England is different than it is in the U.S. That’s to be expected, but the history, tradition and silly wigs do make British Law a bit more comical, and perhaps interesting than that boring stuff they practice in the US. Before, this day I knew nothing about English law from the days of the Magna Carta to today, and I still don’t. But, I know enough to totally confuse an innocent bystander.
There are solicitors, which equate to lawyers in a law firm in the US, except they don’t litigate cases. Then there are Barristers, who argue a lot, for both the defense and the prosecution, but don’t do any of the other legal stuff that lawyers in the US do. I suppose the Brits do it this way to double up on the retainers. I’m sure Ellen will point out what an idiot I am once she finds out what I’m going to say here.
So, we to a “London Walks” tour today called “A Lawyer’s London”. It was pretty much all about Barristers, the Inns of Court, and the courts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was very confusing, weird, and interesting.
We started out visiting the Inns for Barristers, which I never knew existed, much less what they are for. The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. Its not true that there used to be a Red Roof Inn.
All barristers must belong to one of the Inns. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional accommodation. Yup, a place to go eat, which seems to be one of the most important factors for Barristers to consider before joining. Each also has a church or chapel attached to it and is a self-contained precinct where barristers traditionally train and practice. Our guide claimed that all the Inns and chambers are the same (of equal prestige), but you don’t believe that, do you? I don’t. It’s like saying all law firms are the same, or like the Shreveport/Bossier City Correspondence School of Law, or University of American Samoa Law School is just as good as Harvard or Yale. Yeah, right.
The curious thing is that the law used to be a church thing here. During the 12th and early 13th centuries the law was taught by the church, which is kind of scary, especially if you are accused of being a witch, alchemist, or scientist. I can just hear the dean of the school…..”Next week we’ll cover Trial by Combat, Daniel and the Lions’ Den and Torts after Sunday School. But a papal bull (an edict issued by a pope) in 1218 prohibited the clergy from practicing in the secular courts (where the English common law system operated, as opposed to the Roman civil law favored by the Church). I mean, why would you want to be so common as to not do the law according to God? As a result, law began to be practiced and taught by laymen instead of by clerics. In an attempt to get rid of lawyers and protect their schools from competition, first Henry II and later Henry III issued proclamations prohibiting the teaching of the civil law within the City of London. As a result, the common law lawyers moved to premises outside the City, which in time became the inns of court. Which were kind of like Frat houses, without Greek letters. Beginning in the 14th century, the Inns were any group of buildings where lawyers traditionally lodged, trained and carried on their profession. Over time, the four Inns of Court became where barristers were trained, while the more numerous Inns of Chancery were responsible for the training of solicitors.
The four Inns of Court are:
- The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
- The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
- The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
- The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn
The four inns are located on the western boundary of the City of London. Nearby are the Royal Courts of Justice, which were moved for convenience from Westminster Hall to the legal quarter of London in 1882. I can just imagine barristers running up and down the streets to and from the courts in wigs with their robes waving in the wind. Or was that just a scene from Goodbye Mr. Chips? Each Inn is a sizable complex of buildings with a great hall, chapel, libraries, sets of chambers for many hundreds of barristers, and gardens, and covers several acres. The layout is similar to that of an Oxford college. The chambers were originally used as residences as well as business premises by many of the barristers. If you can’t visualize this, go watch an old episode of Rumpole of the Bailey.
The Knights Templar
The Inner Temple began during the reign of Henry II (1154–1189), when the Knights Templar in London moved from the Old Temple in Holborn (which is now most notably an underground station on the Central Line) to a new location on the banks of the River Thames. The real estate was much nicer there and they had change to spare after pillaging Jerusalem, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and any other country along the way between France, Germany, Spain, Venice, and England and the Holy Lands, including Greece, Cyprus and Croatia. These guys were such busy boys. The original Temple covered much of what is now the northern part of Chancery Lane, which the Knights created (razed peasant huts) to provide access to their new buildings.
The first group of lawyers came to live here during the 13th century, although as legal advisers to the Knights rather than as a society. The Knights fell out of favor, and the order was dissolved in 1312, with the land seized by the king and granted to the Knights Hospitaller. This is a nice way of saying that they got too big for their britches and the Pope Clement V and King Philip IV of France and a few other kings decided to fumigate Europe and eliminate the Templars in not such a nice manner.
The compound was regularly used as a residence by kings and by legates of the Pope. The Temple also served as an early safety-deposit bank, sometimes in defiance of the Crown’s attempts to seize the funds of nobles who had entrusted their wealth there.
Today, the church compound is jointly owned by the Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns of Court. The structure is famous for being a round church, a common design feature for Knights Templar churches, and for its 13th- and 14th-century stone effigies. It was heavily damaged by German bombing during World War II and has since been greatly restored and rebuilt. It was said that during the bitz, guards were stationed in the church 24 hours a day with water and sand buckets to extinguish any fires that started from the German incendiary bombs.
There have been lawyers in the Temple since 1320. In 1337 the premises were divided into Inner Temple, where the lawyers resided, and Middle Temple, which was also occupied by lawyers by 1346. Lincoln’s Inn, the largest, is able to trace its official records to 1422. The records of Gray’s Inn begin in 1569, but teaching is thought to have begun there in the late fourteenth century.
The area around the Temple Church is known as the Temple, in fact, the closest underground station is called the Temple Station. The Knights Hospitaller, leased the Temple to the two colleges of lawyers. One college moved into the part of the Temple previously used by the Knights, and the other into the part previously used by its clergy, and both shared the use of the church. The colleges evolved into the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple.
The Inner Temple and the Middle Temple became distinct societies by 1388, when they are mentioned in a year book. (Isn’t that nice? School Annuals. I wonder if they had signing parties like we did back in Jr. High?) There are few records of the Inner Temple from the 14th and 15th centuries—indeed, from all the societies, although Lincoln’s Inn’s records stretch back to 1422. The Temple was sacked by Wat Tyler and his rebels during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, with buildings pulled down and records destroyed.
The Inns of Court have historic ties with the United States of America. Seven signatories to the Declaration of Independence and five to the Constitution were members of Middle Temple. Every United States Ambassador is an honorary member of Middle Temple. Historically, Charles Dickens worked as a law clerk in Gray’s Inn (the guide was happy to point out his old office) and set the opening of Bleak House in Lincoln’s Inn. While a clerk here, he wrote novels and articles in his spare time and entertained his colleagues by mimicking their clients. He really hated lawyers. There is so much more to Legal London than just a lovely part of London to take a stroll. The area has a tremendous amount of history, the legacy of the legal profession here is fascinating and each Inn has its own history, character, and stories. This is true even for an un-legal type like me.
Lucy’s Not Here, but T-Rex Is
We thought we’d pop over to the Natural History Museum in London. Which, like the one in D.C. is a natural history museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. OK, first off, this is really a kid’s place, even though it has some pretty fascinating exhibits inside. But, its geared for a 10-year old. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. I’ll admit I didn’t do any research on the place before we went, but I thought the remains of Lucy (first humanoid) were here. Wrong! Those remains are in Ethiopia with plaster casts in the Cleveland Museum. Oh well, if you can stand thousands of kids, it’s a good place to kill a couple of hours.
The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. The museum specialized in reconstructing bones and hanging them from the ceilings. They have a huuuuuuge whale suspended from the roof in the main lobby, which I found amazing. This is one of the very oldest natural history museums, and many of the collections have great historical value, such as specimens collected by Charles Darwin.
The Natural History Museum Library contains an extensive collection books, journals, manuscripts, and artwork collections that we skipped, linked to the work and research of the scientific departments which you could set up an appointment if you were doing serious research.
Originating from collections within the British Museum, before it split off from it and the Library of London, the spectacular Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881 and later incorporated the Geological Museum. The Darwin Centre is a more recent addition, partly designed as a modern facility for storing the valuable collections.
Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee. (Thank God for that, London is an expensive place without having to pay for museums). Plan a whole day for this row of museums, or if that’s a bit much, split it into two days. Just keep in mind that you’ll be outnumbered 10:1 by school kids in the museums here.