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The American colonies had lawyers who were educated in and about the
common law and legal system of England. These American attorneys had a
large influence in the success of the Revolution.
Unlike the English social culture that insisted a "gentleman" did not work if
the family income was sufficient, the American upper classes deliberately
thought of useful occupations in which their children would increase the income
of the family beyond that of the land itself. The colonists recognized the
practice of law as a needed learned profession. The American colonies knew they
needed not only to order society in the ways they expected, but also they needed
administrators (judges and lawyers) who could implement the socially expected
system of regulation. In a number of instances, American sons went
to London to learn the practice of law and then returned to their home to
practice as a lawyer. These American colonists were Englishmen who
expected the rights of Englishmen, and expected those rights to be enforced by
their own local courts.
The widespread knowledge of English law and the use of it as a normal part of
the colonists lives before the Revolutionary War is the primary reason why the
American colonists were able to use
law as a weapon
of their resistance to the laws passed by the English Parliament. What
the Americans did was correct legal procedure. In response the English had
to respond in a correct legal manner, or lose the legal system which they
assumed gave them political control of the colonies. The English, perhaps
even more than the Americans, did not want to resort to force to rule the
colonies. Both sides of the American controversy knew and respected
English law.
All of the four Inns of Court had students from the American Colonies.
And many of those who returned to the Colonies did not make historical marks in
performing their profession of law. So what I am about to say should not
be taken as saying that only the Middle Temple was involved in training lawyer,
nor should it taken as saying that all the lawyers trained in the Inns of Court
became politically prominent back in the Colonies.
I do want to add a special note about Middle Temple. Middle Temple was
one of the four Inns of Court at which English barristers (the top of the legal
profession in England) could learn law. Middle Temple of London, England,
had particularly strong links with the emerging United States.
 | Five Middle Templars (Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Junior, Thomas
McKean, Thomas Lynch and Arthur Middleton) were among the signatories to the
American Declaration of Independence. |
 | For good measure in linking American and English lawyers in history, we
mention that the English Whig orator Edmund Burke (who championed the
colonists' cause in Parliament before 1775) was also a Middle Templar. |
 | A Middle Templar (John Dickinson) drafted the 'Articles of
Confederation', |
 | Seven Middle Templars were in the thirty-nine members of the later
Constitutional Convention who signed the completed 'Constitution (William
Livingstone, John Blair, John Dickinson, John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, Charles Jared Ingersoll and Charles Pinckney). In short,
almost 20% of the signers of the Constitution were trained in the Middle
Temple in London. |
To emphasize the connection between Middle Temple and the United States,
Middle Temple has a copy of the American Constitution on their library
wall.
Read more by going to - Law as a Weapon of
the Americans in the Revolution


Note: The best single source identifying American lawyers
trained in England is
Jones, E. Alfred. American Members of the Inns of Court, 1 - 250. London:
The Saint Catherine Press, 1924. [Abstract: Personal histories of those trained
in the Inns of Court, who were born or practiced law in the American Colonies.
Many of the law officers of the Colonies were members of the Inns of Court.
Several members of the American bar were trained in the English Inns of Court.]
We are indebted to the chief librarian at the Middle Temple for telling us of
this book, which can be found in some American university libraries.
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