Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to
the Bar and 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, the Inn is both a professional body and a
place of living and office accommodation (chambers) for many
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, or Walks, which have existed since at least 1597.
Gray's Inn does not claim a specific foundation date; there is a
tradition that 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 least 1370, with records dating from 1391.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Inn grew steadily, reaching its
pinnacle during the reign of Elizabeth I. 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 traditional method of legal
education. Although now more prosperous, Gray's Inn is still the
smallest of the Inns of Court.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray%27s_Inn>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges
was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges>
1838:
The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language
daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded as the The Bombay Times and
Journal of Commerce.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India>
1942:
World War II: The Allies defeated the Axis at the Second Battle of El
Alamein, Egypt, turning the tide in the North African Campaign by
ending Axis hopes of taking control of the Suez Canal and thus gaining
access east to the Middle Eastern oil fields.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein>
1957:
The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, carrying Laika the
Russian space dog as the first living creature from Earth to enter
orbit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika>
1996:
Abdullah Çatlı, a drug trafficker, a contract killer, and a leader of
the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, was killed in a car
crash near Susurluk, Balıkesir Province, Turkey, sparking the Susurluk
scandal which exposed the depth of the state's complicity in organized
crime.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%87atl%C4%B1>
2007:
Pakistani President and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf declared a
state of emergency across Pakistan, suspending the Pakistani
Constitution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_state_of_emergency%2C_2007>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
atavistic (adj):
1. (biology) Of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more
generations due to a chance combination of genes.
2. Of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atavistic>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings
can master their sadistic destructiveness.
--Wilhelm Reich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich>
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