This document presents a history of moot court, defined as a mock court where hypothetical cases are tried for the training of law students. The first recorded reference to a moot court was in the year 997, and moots were common at the Inns of Court and Chancery in 14th century England. In 18th century England there were 4 greater Inns of Court and 10 lesser Inns, called the Inns of Chancery; in each of the greater Inns there were about 200 students, and 100 in the lesser Inns. Students learned not only law but history, scripture, music, and dancing, and several historians put the Inns of Court as universities for the study of law on the same footing as Oxford and Cambridge Universities. When formal legal education began in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the practices followed were similar to those of the Inns of Court, with lectures by professors followed by moot court exercises. This modified English system continued until the case method was introduced at Harvard Law School in 1870. Because students enjoy them, moot court competitions are still a viable part of the law school curriculum. (Contains 16 endnotes and 10 references.) (CH)