Chancery Lane Definition:

A pedestrian lane connecting Gray's Inn with other Inns of the Court in London, England.

Related Terms: Inns of Court, Middle Temple, Inner Temple, Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn

Chancery Lane is of considerable importance in legal history. It still exists today is a wide, pedestrian-only cobble-stone lane that serves as the main traffic artery of many of England's greatest bastions of law and legal history. Chancery lane is the most prestigious address in English law. The national registrar of solicitors, the Law Society, is on Chancery Lane, as are many famous legal publishers such as Butterworth and Wildy & Sons.

The Public Record Office (now the National Archives) was, until 1997, on this small laneway which included in its vaults the originals of the Domesday records (1086) and the Magna Carta (1215). The old PRO building on Chancery lane is now King's College London's Maughan Library.

Wig makers (barristers still must wear wigs in court in England, circa 2012), legal gown or robe makers and other industries which serve the legal profession are based on Chancery Lane.

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