Lincoln's Inn - Royal Courts of Justice

Lincoln's Inn is an area in the London Borough of Camden which is mainly a residential area which contains a number of buildings dating from the 15th century. The area houses Sir John Soane's Museum - a museum of architecture, the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, the Royal Courts of Justice, as well as the Lincoln's Inn Fields, the largest public square in London.

The Royal Courts of Justice is a neo-Gothic building dating from the Victorian era which houses the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. It was built by the architect (and a former lawyer) George Edmund Street. The construction of the building began in 1873 and due to different strikes it was not completed until 1881. Apart from the courtrooms, inside the building we can find the Waiting Rooms, a number of Arbitration and Consultation Chambers as well as the Robing Rooms for members of the bar and solicitor-advocates. The facade of the main entrance has a large rose window on top and is crowned with several pinnacles. The Royal Courts are surrounded by the four Inns of Court (associations of lawyers) and the London School of Economics.

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court surrounding the Royal Courts of Justice. Its construction date back to 1562. The Inn consists of three squares: the Old Square (with Old Buildings and Hardwicke buildings) built in 1683, New Square (also known as Serle Court) from circa 1697, and Stone Buildings partly built in 1780 by Robert Taylor and finished in 1845. The most important buildings of the Inn include: the Gatehouse - the oldest existing part of the Inn, built between 1518 and 1521; the Chapel - built between 1620 and 1623 by Inigo Jones; the Great Hall - built by Philip Hardwick in the 19th century; and the Library - which contains over 150.000 books on law and is used by law students and lawyers.