Reader (Inns of Court) explained

A reader in one of the Inns of Court in London was originally a senior barrister of the Inn who was elected to deliver a lecture or series of lectures on a particular legal topic.^{[1] [2]} Two readers (known as Lent and Autumn Readers) would be elected annually to serve a one-year term.

Lincoln's Inn became formally organised as a place of legal education thanks to a decree in 1464, which required a reader to give lectures to the law students there.^[3]

By 1569 at Gray's Inn there had been readers for more than a century, and before the rise of the benchers they formed the governing body of the inn.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Inner Temple Admissions Database: Glossary . The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple . 2010-07-10 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110314061419/http://www.innertemple.org.uk/archive/itad/glossary.html . 2011-03-14.
2. Simpson. A.W.B.. A. W. B. Simpson. 1975. The Early Constitution of Gray's Inn. Cambridge Law Journal. Cambridge University Press. 34. 1. 138–139. 10.1017/S0008197300092102. 0008-1973.
3. Book: Ringrose, Hyacinthe. The Inns of Court An Historical Description. R.L. Williams. 81. Oxford. 1909. 60732875.