View source for Doctors' Commons

{{Short description|Society of lawyers practising civil law in London c. 1511–1865}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Microcosm of London Plate 031 - Doctors' Commons edited.jpg|thumb|280px|Doctors' Commons in the early 19th century]]

'''Doctors' Commons''', also called the '''College of Civilians''', was a society of lawyers practising [[civil law (legal system)|civil (as opposed to common) law]] in [[London]], namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the [[Inns of Court]] of the [[common law]]yers, the society had buildings with rooms where its members lived and worked, and a large library.

It was also a lower venue for determinations and hearings, short of the society's convening in the [[Court of the Arches]] or [[Admiralty Court]], which frequently consisted of judges with other responsibilities and from which further appeal lay. The society used [[St Benet's, Paul's Wharf]] as its church.<ref name="britainexpress.com" />

==The civil law in England==
[[File:ONL (1887) 1.288 - The Prerogative Office, Doctors' Commons, 1860.jpg|thumb|The [[Prerogative]] Office, Doctors' Commons, in 1860]]
While the [[English common law]], unlike the legal systems on the European continent, developed mostly independently from [[Roman law]], some specialised English courts applied the Roman-based civil law. This is true of the [[ecclesiastical court]]s, whose practice even after the [[English Reformation]] continued to be based on the [[canon law]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]], and also of the [[admiralty courts]]. Until reforms in the 19th century, the ecclesiastical courts performed functions equivalent to today's [[probate court]]s, subject then to appeals to separate courts ([[court of equity|of equity]]), and [[family court]]s (however divorce was much harder to achieve).

The advocates practising in these courts had been trained in canon law (before the Reformation) and in Roman law (after) at the university colleges of [[Oxford]] and [[Cambridge]]. This profession was split, like its common law counterpart. The advocates (the doctors) were akin to [[barrister]]s in the common-law courts, while the proctors were akin to [[attorney at law| attorneys]] in the common-law courts or to [[solicitor]]s in the courts of equity.

According to some accounts, the society of Doctors' Commons was formed in 1511 by Richard Blodwell, [[Dean of Arches |Dean of the Arches]]. He served nine years. According to others, it existed in the previous century. The society's buildings, acquired in 1567, were near [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] at [[Paternoster Row]], and remained in use for many years;{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} however, in the society's final decades nearby buildings in [[Knightrider Street]] were used instead.{{sfn|Baker|1998|p=59|loc= n. 8}}

In 1768 the society was incorporated. It took official name of the "College of Doctors of Law exercent in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts". The college still consisted of its president (the [[Dean of Arches]]) and of those doctors of law who, having {{tooltip|regularly|meaning 'in regularity'}} taken that degree in the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and having been admitted advocates in pursuance of the rescript of the [[archbishop of Canterbury]], were elected "fellows" in the manner prescribed by the charter. There were also attached to the college thirty-four "[[proctor]]s", whose duties were analogous to those of [[solicitor]]s.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Disestablishment==
[[Image:Doctors Commons Plaque.jpg|thumb|This plaque on the [[Faraday Building]] on the north side of Queen Victoria Street marks the site of the now demolished Doctors' Commons.]]

In the nineteenth century, Doctors' Commons and its members were looked upon as old-fashioned and slightly ridiculous.<ref name=dcopperfield/> As anticipation of an impending abolition grew, a reluctance among the members to admit new fellows increased, for this would dilute the proceeds of any winding up of the society's property. Dr [[Thomas Hutchinson Tristram]] was the last to be admitted.{{sfn|Squibb|1977|pp=104-105}}

The [[Court of Probate Act 1857]] abolished the [[will (law)|testamentary]] jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts and gave common lawyers the right to practise in fields which before had been the exclusive domain of civilians (doctors and proctors), while offering in practice scant compensation of the reverse also being permitted.{{sfn|Squibb|1977|pp=104-105}} Critically, the Act also made it lawful for the Doctors' Commons, by a vote of the majority of its fellows, to dissolve itself and surrender its [[Royal Charter]], the proceeds of dissolution to be shared among the members.<ref>Court of Probate Act 1857, s.117</ref>

The [[Matrimonial Causes Act 1857]] created a new [[divorce]] court in which regular [[barrister]]s or doctors of Doctors' Commons could {{tooltip|appear|meaning give evidence}}.

The [[High Court of Admiralty Act 1859]] liberalised [[rights of audience]] in the [[Admiralty Court]]. What remained for Doctors' Commons was only the established church's [[Court of Arches]].{{sfn|Squibb|1977|pp=104-105}}

A motion to dissolve the society was entered on 13 January 1858, setting the path towards its final meeting: the end of [[Trinity Term]], 10 July 1865. The fellows, rather than surrender their offices and charter, resolved that its property was to be sold and no appointments to any vacant post could be made. {{sfn|Baker|1990|p=194}} The buildings of Doctors' Commons were sold in 1865 and demolished soon after. The site is now largely occupied by the [[Faraday Building]].<ref name=sb>Simon Bradley (ed.), Nikolaus Pevsner, ''London. 1. The City of London'' (London: Penguin Books, 1997) p. 343.</ref>

The Court of Arches gave right of audience to barristers in 1867.{{sfn|Squibb|1977|pp=104-105}}<ref>''Mouncey v. Robinson'' (1867) 37 L. J. Ecc. 8</ref>

The society perished with the death of its last fellow, Tristram, in 1912.

==In Victorian literature==
Satirical descriptions of Doctors' Commons can be found in [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Sketches by Boz]]'' and in ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' in which Dickens called it a "cosey, dosey, old-fashioned, time-forgotten, sleepy-headed little family party."<ref name=dcopperfield>''[[David Copperfield]]'' (1849), Charles Dickens, chapter 23.</ref>

In the same-era novel ''[[The Moonstone]]'' by [[Wilkie Collins]], the [[solicitor]] of [[Gray's Inn Square]] Mathew Bruff notes, "I shall perhaps do well if I explain in this place, for the benefit of the few people who don't know it already, that the law allows all [[will and testament|wills]] to be examined at Doctor's Commons by anybody who applies, on payment of a [[shilling (British coin)|shilling]] fee."{{sfn|Collins|1998|pp=274–275, 289}}

Doctors' Commons is mentioned anachronistically in the much later short story ''[[The Adventure of the Speckled Band]]'' by [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]], in which [[Sherlock Holmes]] apparently obtains some information there about the will of the wife of Dr Grimesby Roylott of Stoke Moran.

== See also ==
* [[List of demolished buildings and structures in London]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="britainexpress.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1588|title=St Benet Paul's Wharf|publisher=Britain Express|access-date=1 August 2015}}</ref>
}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last=Baker|first= J.H. | title=An Introduction to English Legal History | location=London | publisher=Butterworths | year=1990 | isbn=0-406-53101-3 }}
*{{cite book | last=Baker|first= J.H. | title=Monuments of Endlesse Labours: English Canonists and Their Work 1300–1900 | location=London | publisher=Hambledon Press | year=1998 | isbn=1-85285-167-8 }}
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Doctors' Commons|volume=8|page=367|noprescript=yes}}
*{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Wilkie|title=The Moonstone|orig-year=1868|date=1998|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=9780140434088|editor-first=Sandra|editor-last=Kemp|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/moonstonepenguin00wilk}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Godfrey |editor-first=Walter H. |title=London Topographical Record Illustrated. Vol. XV.|page=4–86 |location=London |publisher=London Topographical Society |year=1931|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_london-topographical-record_1933_v15-16031/}}
* {{cite book |last1=Outhwaite|first1= R.B.  |last2=Helmholz|first2= R. H. | title=The Rise and Fall of the English Ecclesiastical Courts, 1500-1860 | edition=(Cambridge Studies in English Legal History) | location=London | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-521-86938-6}}
*{{cite book | last=Squibb|first= G. D. | title=Doctors' Commons | location=Oxford | publisher=University Press | year=1977 | isbn=0-19-825339-7}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/charles_dickens/sketches_by_boz/16/ Description of Doctors' Commons from Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz]
{{Inns of Court}}

[[Category:1511 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1865 disestablishments]]
[[Category:Anglicanism]]
[[Category:English law]]
[[Category:History of the Church of England]]
[[Category:History of the City of London]]
[[Category:Legal buildings in London]]
[[Category:Legal history of England]]
[[Category:Legal organisations based in London]]
[[Category:Legal professions]]
[[Category:Social history of London]]