In this juridical univerſity (for ſuch it is inſiſted to have been by Forteſcue[1] and ſir Edward Coke[2]) there are two ſorts of collegiate houſes, one called inns of chancery, in which the younger ſtudents of the law were uſually placed, “learning and ſtudying, ſays Forteſcue[3], the originals and as it were the elements of the law; who, profiting therein, as they grew to ripeneſs ſo were they admitted into the greater inns of the ſame ſtudy, called the inns of court.” And in theſe inns of both kinds, he goes on to tell us, the knights and barons, with other grandees and noblemen of the realm, did uſe to place their children, though they did not deſire to have them thoroughly learned in the law, or to get their living by it’s practice: and that in his time there were about two thouſand ſtudents at theſe ſeveral inns, all of whom he informs us were filii nobilium, or gentlemen born.
Hence it is evident, that (though under the influence of the monks our univerſities neglected this ſtudy, yet) in the time of Henry the ſixth it was thought highly neceſſary and was the univerſal practice, for the young nobility and gentry to be inſtructed in the originals and elements of the laws. But by degrees this cuſtom has fallen into diſuſe; ſo that in the reign of queen Elizabeth ſir Edward Coke[4] does not reckon above a thouſand ſtudents, and the number at preſent is very conſiderably leſs. Which ſeems principally owing to theſe reaſons: firſt, becauſe the inns of chancery being now almoſt totally filled by the inferior branch of the profeſſion, they are neither commodious nor proper for the reſort of gentlemen of any rank or figure; ſo that there are very rarely any young ſtudents entered at the inns of chancery: ſecondly, becauſe in the inns of court all ſorts of regimen and academical ſuperintendance, either with regard to morals or ſtudies, are found impracticable and therefore entirely neglected: laſtly, becauſe perſons of birth and fortune, after having finiſhed their uſual courſes at the univerſities, have ſeldom
