Barristers, known collectively as ‘the Bar’ and also collectively and individually as ‘counsel’, have a long history as a profession. The distinction between attorneys and those who pleaded in court can be seen under Edward I, but the settlement of the Bar as a definite organisation probably took place later. Fortescue, writing in the fifteenth century, described the Inns of Court as well-established institutions. Lincoln's Inn, The Middle Temple, The Inner Temple, and Gray's Inn, together with lesser Inns that have disappeared, existed as bodies with an organisation much like Oxford and Cambridge colleges. The governing body was the Benchers, who were senior members who themselves filled any vacancies that occurred. One of the functions of the Inns was legal education, conducted by lectures and arguments. In rank below the Benchers came the Readers, who delivered lectures which were followed by arguments in which the next rank, the Utter-barristers, disputed with the Readers. The lowest rank of learners were the Inner-barristers. In the more formal arguments, called moots, the Benchers acted as judges and the cases were argued by two Utter-barristers and two Inner-barristers. It was a tense training which tended to keep the narrow requirements of procedure well to the fore. The other function of the Inn was the ‘call to the Bar’.