‘Twelfth Night’ Debuted Here

LAMs (Libraries, Archives, and Museums)
MLIS (Master’s of Library and Information Science)

Week Three
Day Sixteen: Middle Temple Law Library
Let’s just admit it, Shakespeare had a thing for lawyers

“The first rule of librarianship is to not be noisy”

Renae S., Librarian, Middle Temple Law Library

I really wanted to use that famous Shakespeare quote about lawyers from King Henry VI, Part II, but that has mean-ish undertones (depending on the interpretation, I gather, from some of my more Shakespearean-centric dramaturges) and the librarians at Middle Temple Law Library were incredibly accommodating of us, so I don’t want to come across as someone who demeans the profession, even for a pithy quote at the head of my blog post. That just wouldn’t do.

The history of the Middle Temple goes back to, you guessed it, the Knights Templar. But only sort of. The area, once “vacated” by the Knights Templar, was “repopulated” by lawyers due to an old rule about not being able to practice law within the city limits of London (for those unaware, the actual City of London proper is one square mile… that’s another story for another day… But here’s a link to a video that tells you about it if you can’t wait: The (Secret) City of London, Part 1: History (thanks for the link, Dr. Welsh!)

The legal profession is practiced much differently in the U.K. than it is in the U.S. My Legal-Eagle friends back home may (or may not) be surprised to know that one need not have a law degree to practice law in the U.K. A degree is required, but not necessarily a JD. The description of the process by Renae S., Librarian for the Middle Temple Law Library, was fascinating, but was lengthy and would more than exhaust the length of this blog posting. Needless to say, it’s more like a sponsorship and an apprenticeship leading to a chance “to hang one’s own shingle”. To gain a sponsor and access, the barrister-in-waiting (I made that term up. I don’t know if that’s a proper one. I hope it’s not offensive!) must join one of the four “Inns”, Middle Temple being one of the four. Each has specialties in the law, so one should choose carefully.

The library was modernized when it was rebuilt in the 50s due to damage during the Second World War, as were portions of the other Middle Temple buildings. The two globes on display, one celestial and one terrestrial, are only seen together at the Middle Temple Law Library.

One of the first things I saw when I walked into the library (other than the prominently displayed, rare globes, of course), are tax books. Reminding me that we paid our quarterly income taxes this week… (thanks for the tax prep, Nate!)

Renae told us about a case that went back to medieval times to find precedent, but then said usually the oldest cases generally are looking to no earlier than the 16th century.
No. Earlier.

They have 50,000 titles and 250,000 volumes at their disposal to cover these needs.

3.7 miles/9,300 steps/13 flights climbed