11 December 2025
Professor Sir John Baker KC LLD FBA (Downing Professor Emeritus of the Laws of England and an Inner Temple Bencher) and His Honour Donald Cryan (Hon) LLD (Inner Temple Bencher and former Treasurer).
The Inn is the custodian of some of the most important and intriguing documents in our national and legal history. Professor Sir John Baker will explore three from the collection:
- The medieval Clifford’s Inn triptych, comes from the dawn of formal legal education in England. Within also lies the earliest regulations for students in any of the legal Inns.
- The earliest coloured pictures of English law courts in action. They are a landmark in the history of English secular art and date from around 1450.
- In 1553 the boy King Edward VI wrote ‘My devise for the succession’ in which he sought to change the order of succession to the throne contrary to the will of Henry VIII, excluding Mary and Elizabeth, but only resulting in the death of Lady Jane Grey.
Lecture with slides
