7 minute read
A The History Society Review
THE HISTORY SOCIETY REVIEW
By the Archivist
The History Society has thrived in the time of COVID-19. Thanks to technology and the rise of online events, it has adapted perfectly to the ‘new normal’ and attracted a large global audience to its webinars, which were broadcast this year. Online events have also allowed the Inn to invite lecturers from as far afield as the US. The History Society was delighted to welcome Professor Tidmarsh of Notre Dame Law School to its first online History Society event, which was also the inaugural joint Inns of Court Selden Society Lecture, an annual event which will alternate between the four Inns of Court.
The Fire Courts: Successfully Delivering Justice in a Time of Plague and Fire lecture examined the role of the ‘fire courts,’ which parliament established to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in urban areas destroyed in catastrophic fires. The Inner Temple was almost completely destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, which took place in September during the summer vacation when many of its residents were absent. The Great Fire of London destroyed a total of 426 acres of London, a vast number of houses – only four were left standing on Fleet Street – and tens of thousands of people were made homeless. Eight of the 22 fire court judges were members of the Inner Temple and they sat in the hall of the Inner Temple’s Clifford’s Inn to hear the huge quantity of disputes. During its first year, the fire court was in session for 120 days, hearing 374 disputes, inspired by the decree to “promote the rebuilding of the city”.
One of the fire courts’ most remarkable features was the delegation of authority to judges to adjudicate disputes without juries. The lecture explored the social and economic impact of the Great Fire and explained how a six-section Act of Parliament erected a novel fire court to cut a path through the tsunami of legal disputes that threatened the rebuilding of London, and played a central role in the City’s redevelopment. The lecture explored lessons for modern times and the circumstances under which government intervention can foster resilience, in particular the ways in which the judiciary can be a key partner in recovery from disaster. The global audience for this lecture included legal scholars, the public, and members of the Bar. The second lecture was wonderfully organised by our former Treasurer Master Donald Cryan on the topic of Law in a Time of Plague: Is the Law a Good Doctor?, with Professor Sir John Baker QC (Emeritus Downing Professor Emeritus of the Laws of England 1998–2011 and Inner Temple Bencher) and Professor John Wass (Professor of Endocrinology, University of Oxford, and Inner Temple Bencher) in conversation with His Honour Donald Cryan (former Treasurer of the Inner Temple). The lecture examined the nature of the plagues that have beset this country both from a medical point of view, as brilliantly evoked by Master John Wass, and the law’s response to the plague, as explained by Master John Baker. One felt grateful that one was not alive in the 16th century when some local authorities took stringent measures to ensure that plague victims did not infect others, in some cases even ordering offenders to be shot. In 1518, plague-ridden Londoners were required to put a bundle of straw on a ten-foot pole outside a house, which was altered in 1547 to the now familiar cross, and anyone leaving such a house was to carry a four-footlong white wand. In the 1550s, pesthouses were set up on the outskirts of towns to quarantine infected people and, in 1578, houses infected by plague were to be closed for six weeks. The wealthier members of the population as largely represented here and at other institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge, were able to retire to safe country retreats, and it was the poor who bore the brunt of this most stringent legislation.
It was striking to note the parallels between then and now. Comparisons can be made between anti-vaxxers today and the puritans who felt no measures should be taken to protect sinners from the plague, since it was clearly God’s judgment and way of punishing the sinners, a natural course of events which should be left to do its worst.
An audience of over 300 tuned in to enjoy this lecture and, as our Treasurer summed up, “The only defence of human is their wits,” and it was comforting to realise that we have more wits and knowledge to defend us in our current virus-filled days.
The History Society was honoured to welcome Dr Rory Naismith on 5 May, who provided a fascinating insight into the extraordinary social, economic and legal functions of the early medieval peace gilds of London in his lecture Gilds and Things: Keeping the Peace in 10th-entury London.
Dr Naismith described the London of the 10th century as an entirely functional place, a shanty town of wooden houses existing primarily as a trading post or, as he put it, “permanent car boot sale”, in which no professional legal class yet existed and certainly no Inns of Court. A place in which the punishment of criminals, particularly thieves, was meted out by groups known as peace gilds in the absence of powerful leadership or an efficient justice system, thereby maintaining social structure and public order through community justice.
Their membership encompassed almost every level of society beneath the elite and, in many ways, were akin to a family, inclusive of laity and clergy, men and women alike, with prayer and other shared religious devotions taking place alongside eating, drinking and mutual support against misfortune, injustice or feud. Dr Naismith was quick to point out that they were very different to their later counterparts, named guilds, which were linked to trade or devotional groups and were a pillar of medieval social and economic life in London – a prerequisite for citizenship. In effect, London’s gilds did the same jobs that other locally constituted bodies would do in later times with more formally constituted assemblies and officials. They provided a way to enact government and law enforcement from the bottom up. Community justice was meted out to thieves or those who transgressed, and the rules of the gilds strictly enforced. As the History Society’s Chairman pointed out, it was vigilante justice without the decorum of our courts today – a dinner party where you hear court cases. The History Society was delighted to once again make this lecture available to a wide international audience.
Above: The Great Plague of London in 1665. The last major outbreak of the bubonic plague in England. Opposite: Plan of London before the fire.
© Unknown / Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–1677) Public Domain In effect, London’s gilds did the same jobs that other locally constituted bodies would do in later times with more formally constituted assemblies and officials. They provided a way to enact government and law enforcement from the bottom up. Community justice was meted out to thieves or those who transgressed, and the rules of the gilds strictly enforced.
The History Society plans to go from strength to strength next year, continuing with its online broadcasts of live events, which will now take place in our new education and training lecture rooms. Professor Michelle O’Callaghan, who a few years ago provided us with a wonderful lecture on the 16th- and 17th-century revels at the Inns of Court, will commence our revival on 15 February 2022 to discuss the subject of her latest research, which concerns the circulation of books at the Inns with a particular focus on the library of William Crashawe, the preacher at the Middle and Inner Temples in the early 17th century.
Professor Mitra Sharafi of the University of Wisconsin will share her research on her first book, Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia: Parsi Legal Culture 1772–1947, and examine the influence of the Inns of Court on the development of commonwealth justice systems (date to be confirmed). Dr Frances Burton, Vice-President and committee member of the Association of Women Barristers in England and Wales, will discuss the history of women lawyers on the May anniversary of the Call of the first woman to the Bar.
We hope that you will be able to join us.
Celia Pilkington
Archivist
Covid-19 Vaccine
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