Irish law students and lawyers in late medieval England

In April 1421 the Irish parliament, meeting at Dublin, chose the archbishop of Armagh and Sir Christopher Preston as its messengers to convey to the king in England a long list of complaints. Among these was the following: Also, your said lieges show that whereas they are ruled and governed by your laws as used in your realm of England, to learn which laws and to be informed therein your said lieges have sent to certain inns of court ( hostelles de court ) able men of good and gentle birth, your English subjects born in your said land, who have been received there from the time of the conquest of your said land until recently, when the governors and fellows of the said inns would not receive the said persons into the said inns, as is customary. Wherefore may it please your most gracious lordship to consider this and ordain due remedy thereof, that your laws may be perpetuated and not forgotten in your said land. This was, of course, something of an exaggeration. The Inns of Court certainly did not exist at the time of the English ‘conquest’ of Ireland; indeed, it is now fairly certain that the inns only came into existence around 1340. It is also clear, however, that some kind of organised legal education was taking place in London before the inns were created, certainly as early as the 1270s and quite possibly as early as 1260, though definitely not in the twelfth century. We also know that as early as 1287 Irishmen (or at least one specific Irishman, Robert de St Michael) were crossing the channel ‘causa addiscendi in Banco regis apud Westm’’, that is, specifically for the purpose of legal education at Westminster through attendance at the king’s court there

Ancient history · Archbishop · CONQUEST · English law · Irish · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Realm · Royalist · Classics · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy