 A Reader was a person literally elected to read — he would be elected to the Pension ( council ) of Gray 's Inn , and would take his place by giving a " reading " , or lecture , on a particular legal topic . Two readers would be elected annually by Pension to serve a one @-@ year term . Initially ( before the rise of the Benchers ) the Readers were the governing body of Gray 's Inn , and formed Pension . The earliest certain records of Readers are from the 16th century — although the Inn 's records only start at 1569 William Dugdale ( himself a member ) published a list in his <unk> <unk> dating from 1514 . S.E. Thorne published a list dating from 1430 , but this is entirely conjectural and not based on any official records , only reports of " readings " that took place at Gray 's Inn . By 1569 there had certainly been Readers for more than a century . 
