Charter

The Institute was founded in 1882 and was granted its Royal Charter in 1891. The Charter, which had been slightly amended on four occasions since then, has now been replaced in its entirety by new wording, the changes being approved on 11 February 2009. At the same time, slightly revised wording of the Bye-laws was also approved.

The new wording of the Charter gives a broad framework to govern how the Institute operates, while the Bye-laws provide the detailed arrangements. The new wording of the Charter allows the Institute to comply with the provisions of the Legal Services Act 2007 and includes a specific power to set up a regulatory body, either alone or with other bodies, to exercise the regulatory functions which will be devolved to the Institute under the Act.

The Charter and Bye-laws can be downloaded from here as a pdf file.

Work has commenced in the Constitutional Committee to prepare further changes to the Bye-laws to allow the Institute to continue to operate to further the interests of its members in the new era for the provision of legal services being brought in by the Legal Services Act.

Coat of Arms

The Institute’s Coat of Arms was created in the year 2000 to mark the millenium. The motto on the scroll ‘Respice Finem’ is from the Gest Romanorum*, Chapter 103: ‘Quidquid agas, prudenter agas, et respice finem’ which means ‘Whatever you do, do cautiously, and look to the end’. To view a pdf of the Coat of Arms click here.

* The Gesta Romanorum or Deeds of the Romans was compiled in Latin in the early fouteenth century by an English cleric. It was first published about 1473.