Matthew Weait is Emeritus Professor of Law and Society at the University of Oxford and a Fellow at Harris Manchester College. Last year he was made Reader at his Inn of Court, The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Below, he explains more about the role and how it led to him creating his own Grant of Arms.
The office of Reader is one of the Inn’s oldest traditions, dating back more than five hundred years to a time when the Inns of Court effectively served as England’s law schools. Before legal education moved into universities and professional training courses, senior barristers delivered extended lectures, or Readings, on statutes, cases and the common law. The formal teaching role faded in the eighteenth century, but the office endured. It still involves giving a Reading (mine was on how recognising the rights of nature might help minimise the risk of pandemic disease).
As Reader I was eligible to request what’s known as a Grant of Arms from the College of Arms. This reflects the long-standing association between the Inns of Court and heraldic tradition: senior office-holders have historically been entitled to bear arms, and their shields are displayed in the Inn. My own Arms therefore are part of a long tradition while also telling a more personal story. The blue and white wavy lines represent the Thames, which links London, where I was born and taught for much of my life, and Oxford. The red band is a tribute to the red of the Harris Manchester crest, and the hare is not just my favourite animal, in heraldry it represents, among other things, attentiveness. The walnut branch refers to a walnut tree I planted and to the hope that some things we begin will continue to flourish after us. The motto I chose, Ratiocinatur ut prosit sapiens (roughly, the wise person reasons to be of use) seemed to capture what the Readership historically stood for: learning directed toward the practical good, as well as reflecting the responsibilities of being a teacher and a Governing Body Fellow of the College.
