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One of the four Inns of Court in London, England

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) 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. Located at the intersection of High Holborn and Gray's Inn Road in Central London, the Inn is a professional body and provides office and some residential accommodation for barristers. It is ruled by a governing council called "Pension", made up of the Masters of the Bench (or "benchers") and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one year term. The Inn is known for its gardens (the "Walks"), which have existed since at least 1597. Gray's Inn does not claim a specific foundation date; none of the Inns of Court claims to be any older than the others. Law clerks and their apprentices have been established on the present site since at latest 1370, with records dating from 1381. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Inn grew in size, peaking during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Inn was home to many important barristers and politicians, including Francis Bacon. Queen Elizabeth herself was a patron. As a result of the efforts of prominent members such as William Cecil and Gilbert Gerard, Gray's Inn became the largest of the four Inns by number, with over 200 barristers recorded as members. During this period, the Inn mounted masques and revels. William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is believed first to have been performed in Gray's Inn Hall. The Inn continued to prosper during the reign of James I (1603–1625) and the beginning of that of Charles I, when over 100 students per year were recorded as joining. The outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642 during the reign of Charles I disrupted the systems of legal education and governance at the Inns of Court, shutting down all calls to the bar and new admissions, and Gray's Inn never fully recovered. Fortunes continued to decline after the English Restoration, which saw the end of the then traditional method of legal education. Now more prosperous, Gray's Inn is today the smallest of the Inns of Court.

Gray's Inn and the other three Inns of Court remain the only bodies legally allowed to call a barrister to the Bar, allowing him or her to practise in England and Wales. Although the Inn was previously a disciplinary and teaching body, these functions are now shared between the four Inns, with the Bar Standards Board (a division of the General Council of the Bar) acting as a disciplinary body and the Inns of Court and Bar Educational Trust providing education. The Inn remains a collegiate self governing, unincorporated association of its members, providing within its precincts library, dining, residential and office accommodation (barristers' chambers), along with a chapel. Members of the Bar from other Inns may use these facilities to some extent. and secondly, a decree by Henry III of England on 2 December 1234 that no institutes of legal education could exist in the City of London. The common law began to be practised and taught by laymen instead of clerics, and these lawyers migrated to the hamlet of Holborn, just outside the city and near to the law courts at Westminster Hall. Lincoln's Inn has the earliest surviving records. Gray's Inn dates from at least 1370, and takes its name from the 1st Baron Grey de Wilton, as the Inn was originally Lord Grey's family townhouse (or inn) within the Manor of Portpoole. A lease was taken for various parts of the inn by practising lawyers as both residential and working accommodation, and their apprentices were housed with them. From this the tradition of dining in "commons", probably by using the inn's main hall, followed as the most convenient arrangement for the members. Outside records from 1437 show that Gray's Inn was occupied by socii, or members of a society, at that date. Bryan acted as either a feoffee or an owner representing the governing body of the Inn (there are some records suggesting he may have been a Bencher at this point) but in 1493 he transferred the ownership by charter to a group including Sir Robert Brudenell and Thomas Wodeward, reverting the ownership of the Inn partially back to the Grey family. In 1506 the Inn was sold by the Grey family to Hugh Denys and a group of his feoffees including Roger Lupton. This was not a purchase on behalf of the society and after a five year delay, it was transferred under the will of Denys in 1516 to the Carthusian House of Jesus of Bethlehem (Sheen Priory), which remained the Society's landlord until 1539, when the Second Act of Dissolution led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries and passed ownership of the Inn to the Crown.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, Gray's Inn rose in prominence, and the Elizabethan era is considered the "golden age" of the Inn, with Elizabeth serving as the Patron Lady. Cecil and Bacon in particular took pains to find the most promising young men and get them to join the Inn. In 1574 it was the largest of all the Inns of Court by number, with 120 barristers, and by 1619 it had a membership of more than 200 barristers. Gray's Inn, as well as the other Inns of Court, became noted for the parties and festivals it hosted. Students performed masques and plays in court weddings, in front of Queen Elizabeth herself, and hosted regular festivals and banquets at Candlemas, All Hallows Eve and Easter. At Christmas the students ruled the Inn for the day, appointing a Lord of Misrule called the Prince of Purpoole, and organising a masque entirely on their own, with the Benchers and other senior members away for the holiday. The Gray's Inn masque in 1588 with its centrepiece, The Misfortunes of Arthur by Thomas Hughes, is considered by A. W. Ward to be the most impressive masque thrown at any of the Inns. William Shakespeare performed at the Inn at least once, as his patron, Lord Southampton, was a member. For the Christmas of 1594, his play The Comedy of Errors was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men before a riotous assembly of notables in such disorder that the affair became known as the Night of Errors and a mock trial was held to arraign the culprit. If he studied at Oxford or Cambridge he would spend three years working towards a degree, and be admitted to one of the Inns of Court after graduation. If he studied at one of the Inns of Chancery he would do so for one year before seeking admission to the Inn of Court to which his Inn of Chancery was tied—in the case of Gray's Inn, the attached Inns of Chancery were Staple Inn and Barnard's Inn. The student was then considered an "inner barrister", and would study in private, take part in the moots and listen to the readings and other lectures. After serving from six to nine years as an "inner barrister," the student was called to the Bar, assuming he had fulfilled the requirements of having argued twice at moots in one of the Inns of Chancery, twice in the Hall of his Inn of Court and twice in the Inn Library. The new "utter barrister" was then expected to supervise bolts ("arguments" over a single point of law between students and barristers) and moots at his Inn of Court, attend lectures at the Inns of Court and Chancery and teach students. After five years as an "utter" barrister he was allowed to practice in court—after 10 years he was made an Ancient.

At the start of the Caroline era, when Charles I came to the throne, the Inn continued to prosper. Over 100 students were admitted to the Inn each year, and except during the plague of 1636 the legal education of students continued. Masques continued to be held, including one in 1634 organised by all four Inns that cost £21,000—approximately £ in terms. Many academics, including William Holdsworth, a man considered to be one of the best legal academics in history, maintain that this period saw a decline in the standard of teaching at all the Inns. From 1640 onwards no readings were held, and barristers such as Sir Edward Coke remarked at the time that the quality of education at the Inns of Court had decreased. With the introduction of printing, written legal texts became more available, reducing the need for students to attend readings and lectures. However, this meant that the students denied themselves the opportunity to query what they had learnt or discuss it in greater detail. Eventually, as students now had a way to learn without attending lectures, they began to excuse themselves from lectures, meetings and moots altogether; in the early 17th century they developed a way of deputising other students to do their moots for them. The Benchers and Readers did little to arrest the decline of the practice of lecturers and readings, first because many probably believed (as the students did) that books were an adequate substitute, and secondly because many were keen to avoid the work of preparing a reading, which cut into their time as practising barristers. These problems were endemic to all the Inns, not just Gray's Inn. Meetings of Pension resumed after the Battle of Marston Moor but the education system remained dormant. Although Readers were appointed, none read, and no moots were held. In 1646, after the end of the war, there was an attempt to restore the old system of readings and moots, and in 1647 an order was made that students were required to moot at least once a day. This failed to work, with Readers refusing to read, and the old system of legal education completely died out. The Caroline period saw a decline in prosperity for Gray's Inn. Although there were many notable members of the Inn, both legal (Sir Dudley Digges, Thomas Bedingfield and Francis Bacon, for example) and non legal (including William Juxon, the Archbishop of Canterbury), the list could not compare to that of the Elizabethan period. Following the English Restoration, admissions fell to an average of 57 a year. This fall in numbers was partly because the landed gentry were no longer sending sons who had no intention of becoming barristers to study at the Inn. In 1615, 13 students joined the Inn for every student called to the Bar, but by 1713 the ratio had become 2.3 new members to every 1 call. Over a 50 year period, the Civil War and high taxation under William III economically crippled many members of the gentry, meaning that they could not afford to allow their sons to study at the Inns. David Lemmings considers it to have been more serious than that, for two reasons; firstly, Inner Temple and Middle Temple had actually shown an increase in membership following the Restoration, and secondly because Gray's Inn had previously had far more "common" members than the other Inns. The decrease in the number of gentry at the Inn could therefore not completely explain the large drop in members. In 1733 the requirements for a call to the Bar were significantly revised in a joint meeting between the Benchers of Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, revisions accepted by Lincoln's Inn and Middle Temple, although they were not represented. It is not recorded what these changes were, but after a further discussion in 1762 the Inns adopted a rule that any student with a Master of Arts or Bachelor of Laws degree from the universities of Oxford or Cambridge could be called to the Bar after three years as a student, and any other student could be called after five years. An attempt was made to increase the quality of legal education at Gray's Inn; in 1753 a barrister, Danby Pickering, was employed to lecture there, although this agreement ended in 1761 when he was called to the Bar. In 1780 the Inn was involved in the case of R v the Benchers of Gray's Inn, a test of the role of the Inns of Court as the sole authority to call students to the Bar. The case was brought to the Court of King's Bench by William Hart, a student at the Inn, who asked the court (under Lord Mansfield) to order the Inn to call him to the Bar. Mansfield ruled that the Inns of Court were indeed the only organisations able to call students to the Bar, and refused to order the Inns to call Hart. During the 19th century, the Inns began to stagnate; little had been changed since the 17th century in terms of legal education or practice, except that students were no longer bound to take the Anglican sacrament before their call to the Bar. Gray's Inn was the smallest of the Inns during the early 20th century, and was noted for its connection to the Northern Circuit. During a 1918 Allied World War I conference it would be the site where Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the future leaders of the Western Allies in World War II, would first meet. Following the passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act in December 1919, women could be admitted to the Inns of Court. The first three women were admitted in 1920. Mary Selina Share Jones (1874–1954) was admitted on 27 Jan 1920 following a law degree from the University of Liverpool but was not called, going on to qualify as a medical doctor instead. Edith Hesling (1899–1971) was admitted on 4 October 1920 while studying for a law degree at the University of Manchester. On 13 June 1923 she became the first woman called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn. (Mary) Robina Stevens (1903–51) was admitted on 8 October 1920 whilst studying at London University. She was called on 28 January 1924. During World War II the Inn was badly damaged during the Blitz in 1941, with the Hall, the chapel, the Library and many other buildings hit and almost destroyed. The rebuilding of much of the Inn took until 1960 In 2008 Gray's Inn became the first Inn to appoint "fellows"—elected businesspeople, legal academics and others—with the intent of giving them a wider perspective and education than the other Inns would offer.

Gray's Inn's internal records date from 1569, at which point there were four types of member; those who had not yet been called to the Bar, Utter Barristers, Ancients and Readers. Utter Barristers were those who had been called to the Bar but were still studying, Ancients were those who were called to the Bar and were allowed to practise and Readers were those who had been called to the Bar, were allowed to practise and now played a part in educating law students at the Inns of Chancery and at Gray's Inn itself. At the time Gray's Inn was the odd one out amongst the Inns; the others did not recognise Ancients as a degree of barrister and had Benchers roughly corresponding to the Readers used at Gray's Inn (although the positions were not identical). The Inn is run by Pension, its ultimate governing body. The name is peculiar to Gray's Inn—at Lincoln's Inn the governing body is called the council, and at the Inner and Middle Temples it is called the Parliament. The name was used for the governing bodies of three of the Inns of Chancery—Barnard's Inn, Clement's Inn and New Inn. The English Civil War marked the end of legal education at the Inns, and the class of Readers went into decline. The last Readers were appointed in 1677, and the position of the Readers as heads of the Inn and members of Pension was taken by the Benchers. The position of Bencher developed during the 16th century when the Readers, for unknown reasons, decided that some barristers who were not Readers should be afforded the same rights and privileges as those who were, although without a voice in Pension. This was a rare practice and occurred a total of seven times within the 16th century, the first being Robert Flynt in 1549. The practice became more common during the 17th century—11 people were made Benchers between 1600 and 1630—and in 1614 one of the Benchers appointed was explicitly allowed to be a member of Pension. This became more common, creating a two rank system in which both Readers and Benchers were members of Pension. However far more Readers were appointed than Benchers—50 between 1600 and 1630—and it appeared that Readers would remain the higher rank despite this change. Noted Benchers of Gray's Inn include Lord Birkenhead and Francis Bacon. and Winston Churchill.

Gray's Inn does not possess a coat of arms per se but instead uses a heraldic badge, which is often displayed on a shield. It is blazoned either "Azure an Indian Griffin proper segreant" or, more currently, "Sable a griffin segreant or", i. e., a gold griffin on a black background. The Inn originally used a variant of the coat of arms of the Grey family, but this was changed to the griffin at some time around the 1590s. There is no record of why this was done, but it is possible that the new emblem was adapted from the arms of the Treasurer Richard Aungier (d. 1597). As the Inn grew it became necessary (for safety purposes) to wall off the land owned by the Inn, which had previously been open to everyone. In 1591 the "back field" was walled off, but little more was done until 1608, when under the supervision of Francis Bacon, the Treasurer, more construction work was undertaken, particularly in walling off and improving the gardens and walks. In 1629 it was ordered that an architect supervise any construction and ensure that the new buildings were architecturally similar to the old ones, and the strict enforcement of this rule during the 18th century is given as a reason for the uniformity of the buildings at Gray's Inn. During the late 17th century many buildings were demolished, either because of poor repair or to standardise and modernise the buildings at the Inn. In February 1679 a fire broke out on the west side of Coney Court, necessitating the rebuilding of the entire row. Another fire broke out in January 1684 in Coney Court, destroying several buildings including the Library. A third fire in 1687 destroyed a large part of Holborn Court, and when the buildings were rebuilt after these fires they were constructed of brick to be more resistant to fire than the wood and plaster previously used in construction. As a result, the domestic Tudor style architecture which had dominated much of the Inn was replaced with more modern styles. Records show that prior to the rebuilding in 1687, the Inn had been "so incommodious" that the "ancients" were forced to work two to a chamber. More of the Inn was rebuilt during that period, and between 1669 and 1774 all of the Inn apart from parts of the Hall and Chapel had been rebuilt. Today many buildings are let as professional offices for barristers and solicitors with between and of office space available. The Inn also contains the Inns of Court School of Law, a joint educational venture between all four Inns of Court where the vocational training for barristers and solicitors is undertaken. The current Inn layout consists of two squares—South Square and Gray's Inn Square—with the remaining buildings arranged around the Walks.

The Hall was part of the original Manor of Portpoole, although it was significantly rebuilt during the reign of Mary I, The rebuilt Hall measured 21.34 m in length, 10.67 m in width and 14.33 m in height, and remains about the same size today. The hall also contains a large carved screen at one end covering the entrance to the Vestibule. Legend says that the screen was given to the Inn by Elizabeth I while she was the Inn's patron, and is carved out of the wood of a Spanish galleon captured from the Spanish Armada. The Hall was lit with the aid of massive windows filled with the Coats of Arms of those members who became Treasurers. The Benchers' table is also said to have been a gift from Elizabeth, and as a result the only public toast in the Inn until the late 19th century was "to the glorious, pious and immortal memory of Queen Elizabeth". The walls of the Hall are decorated with paintings of noted patrons or members of the Inn, including Nicholas Bacon and Elizabeth I. During the Second World War the Hall was one of those buildings badly damaged during the Blitz. The Treasurers' Arms and paintings had been moved to a place of safety and were not damaged; during the rebuilding after the War they were put back in the Hall, where they remain.

The Chapel existed in the original manor house used by the Inn, and dates from 1315. In 1625 it was enlarged under the supervision of Eubule Thelwall, but by 1698 it was "very ruinous", and had to be rebuilt. The building was again rebuilt in 1893, and remained that way until its destruction during The Blitz in 1941. The Inn has had a Chaplain since at least 1400, where a court case is recorded as being brought by the "Chaplain of Greyes Inn". During the 16th century the Inn began hiring full time preachers to staff the Chapel—the first, John Cherke, was appointed in 1576. After Crooke's death in 1598 Roger Fenton served as preacher, until his replacement by Richard Sibbes, later Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, in 1616. The East window is by George Ostrehan.

The Walks are the gardens within Gray's Inn, and have existed since at least 1597, when records show that Francis Bacon was to be paid £7 for "planting of trees in the walkes". Prior to this the area (known as Green Court) was used as a place to dump waste and rubble, since at the time the Inn was open to any Londoner. In 1587 four Benchers were ordered by the Pension to "consider what charge a brick wall in the fields will draw unto And where the said wall shalbe fittest to be builded", and work on such a wall was completed in 1598, which helped keep out the citizens of London. In 1599 additional trees were planted in the Walks, and stairs up to the Walks were also added. When Francis Bacon became treasurer in 1608 more improvements were made, since he no longer had to seek the approval of the Pension to make changes. In September 1608 a gate was installed on the southern wall, and various gardeners were employed to maintain the Walks. The gardens became commonly used as a place of relaxation, and James Howell wrote in 1621 that "I hold [Gray's Inn Walks] to be the pleasantest place about London, and that there you have the choicest society". The Walks were well maintained during the reign of William III, although the Inn's lack of prosperity made more improvements impossible. The 19th and 20th centuries saw few major changes, apart from the introduction of plane trees into the Walks. The Walks are listed Grade II*on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The Library of Gray's Inn has existed since at least 1555, when the first mention of it was made in the will of Robert Chaloner, who left some money to buy law books for the Library. The Library was neither a big collection nor a dedicated one; in 1568 it was being housed in a single room in the chambers of Nicholas Bacon, a room that was also used for mooting and to store the deed chest. The collection grew larger over the years as individual Benchers such as Sir John Finch and Sir John Bankes left books or money to buy books in their wills, and the first Librarian was appointed in 1646 after members of the Inn had been found stealing books. In 1669 books were bought by the Inn as an organisation for the first time, and a proper catalogue was drawn up to prevent theft. and that more books be purchased. The first order of new books was on 27 June 1729 and consisted of "a collection of Lord Bacon's works". In 1840 another two rooms were erected in which to store books, and in 1883 a new Library was constructed with space to store approximately 11,000 books. This was rapidly found to be inadequate, and in 1929 a new Library, known as the Holker Library after the benefactor, Sir John Holker, was opened. The library, although impressive looking, was not particularly useful. Francis Cowper wrote that:
Though impressive to look at, the new building was something less than a success as a library. The air of spaciousness was produced at the expense of shelf room, and though in the octagon [at the north end] the decorative effect of row upon row of books soaring upwards towards the cornice was considerable, the loftiest were totally inaccessible save to those who could scale the longest and dizziest ladders. Further, the appointments were of such surpassing magnificence that no ink pots were allowed in the room for fear of accidents. The building did not last very long—damage to the Inn during the Blitz completely destroyed the Library and a large part of its collection, although the rare manuscripts, which had been moved elsewhere, survived. After the destruction of much of the Inn's collection, George VI donated replacements for many lost texts. A prefabricated building in the Walks was used to hold the surviving books while a new Library was constructed, and the new building (designed by Sir Edward Maufe) was opened in 1958. It is similar in size to the old Holker Library, but is more workmanlike and designed to allow for easy access to the books. The 1st Earl of Birkenhead, Baron Slynn, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann and Baroness Hale of Richmond, the first female Justice of the Supreme Court. Outside the Bar and judiciary of England and Wales, members have included the clergy (including five Archbishops of Canterbury), industrialists like John Wynne, astronomers such as John Lee, media figures, like Huw Thomas, and members of the Bar, judiciary and Government of other nations, such as Sir Ti liang Yang (former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong), Muhammad Ali Jinnah (founder of Pakistan), B. R. Ambedkar (principal architect of the Constitution of India), Leslie Goonewardene (founder of Sri Lanka's first political party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party) and also former presidents of Cyprus Spyros Kyprianou, Tassos Papadopoulos, and Glafcos Clerides.