Lincoln’s Inn Fields is protected by an Act of Parliament – the London County Council (Improvements) Act 1894. I am trying to track down a text copy but the pictures of the relevant sections are below.
The Act dates from the point where the Council had bought a long lease on the Fields for £12,000 (about £1.2million in 2012 prices) from the freeholder, broadly the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. For a long period prior to 1894 the Fields had been private. In the Act the Trustees give up their private space and the Fields become public with protective provisions. The Act aims to protect the distinctive character of the Fields and to protect the environment for those who live and work around the green space – in particular the quiet studious nature of a legal and learning environment. This use-pattern that continues today. There is a long discussion in the House of Lords of the genesis of the Act from para 2457 in this Bill Committee debate.
See Sub-Section 6, lines 27 onwards especially. This constrains use of the Fields in a quite distinctive way.
Friends of Lincoln's Inn Fields 
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