Outer Temple

The Outer Temple is thought to have been one of the ten Inns of Chancery. Its historical existence was first posited by A. W. B. Simpson and confirmed by John Baker in 2008. Little is known of it, other than that it lacked a hall; Baker suggests that this is the reason that it did not survive long enough to appear in many records.

It is believed that the Inns of Chancery evolved in tandem with the Inns of Court. During the 12th and 13th century the law was taught in the City of London, primarily by the clergy. During the 13th century two events happened which destroyed this form of legal education – firstly a papal bull in 1218 that prohibited the clergy from teaching the law, and secondly decrees by King Henry II and Henry III that no institutes of legal education could exist in the City of London As a result, the system of legal education fell apart, and the lawyers instead settled immediately outside the City of London as close as possible to Westminster Hall, where the Magna Carta provided for a permanent court. This was the small village of Holborn, where they inhabited "hostels" or "inns", which later took their name from the landlord of the Inn in question.

After the Temple was confiscated from the Knights Templar in 1312, King Edward II divided it between the Inner Temple and Outer Temple, being the parts of the Temple within and without the boundaries of the City of London. (The Inner Temple was in turn divided in two in 1337, the eastern part continuing to be called Inner Temple and the western part becoming known as Middle Temple. They were each leased to lawyers in 1346.)

Although the Outer Temple was an Inn of Chancery in the time of John Fortescue (died c.1480), little is known of it; it certainly lacked a hall, which Baker suggests is the reason that it did not survive past the 16th century.

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