The Bar Library Club established on 15th June 1825, is almost two centuries old and is perhaps the oldest Law Bar in the whole of Asia. Fifty years after the Supreme Court at Calcutta was established on 22nd October 1774 and thirty seven years before the High Court at Calcutta was established in 1862, the Calcutta Bar Library Club was established, thanks to Mr Longueville Clarke, a distinguished Barrister practising in the Supreme Court at Calcutta and treasurer of the Club since foundation till 1840 and subsequently Secretary till 1862. The Hon'ble Justice Buller allotted a room in the Court House for the use of the members of the Club, and the Registrar, James Weir Hogg, gave all his books at a concession. In 1975, the Calcutta Bar Library Club framed written Rules, which have since been replaced by the present Constitution in 2015. The Club started with 16 members, all Europeans, including 10 Barristers. That number rose to 240 in 1925. At present there are approximately 400 number of members.

Various eminent personalities have been members of the Club over time including Gyanendra Mohan Tagore (the first Indian Barrister who became a member in July 1866), Monomohan Ghose, W.C. Bonnerjee (the first President of the Indian National Congress), Dr. Radha Binod Pal (Member of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for the trial of the war crimes in Japan during Second World War and the only Judge who dissented from the Majority judgment in the Tokyo Trials), Sarat Chandra Bose, Sir Sudhansu Mohan Bose (former Advocate General of West Bengal), Hem Sanyal, Niren De (former Attorney General of India), N.C. Chatterjee, Subimal Roy (who was elevated directly from the Bar to the Bench in the Supreme Court of India), Ashoke Kumar Sen, Siddhartha Shankar Ray (former Chief Minister of West Bengal), Subrata Roy Choudhury (well- known jurist who specialised in public international law), Somnath Chatterjee (former Speaker of the Lok Sabha), Atul Prasad Sen (poet, lyricist, composer, who had later shifted his practice to Lucknow) and Mihir Sen (the long distance swimmer), to name but a few. Since its inception the Bar Library Club was an exclusive male preserve until the likes of Mrs Namita Gopal, Mrs Maya Ray, Mrs Padma Khastgir, Mrs Manjula Bose, Mrs Leila Seth, Mrs. Protibha Bonnerjea, Mrs Urmibala Mookherjee and Mrs. Ruma Pal (who later became a judge of the Supreme Court of India) joined as members. The celebrated poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt, the third Indian Barrister, was however not admitted to the membership of the Club. Up to 1853, the Advocate General was appointed and sent out directly from England, However, in 1853, Mr William Ritchie became the first member of the Club to be appointed to that office. Ever since, most appointees to the office have been members of the Club.

The original room allotted by Mr Justice Buller was in the Supreme Court building which occupied the western portion of the site of the present High Court building. While the present High Court building, designed by Walter Granville after the famous Staad-Haus at Ypres, in Belgium was being constructed between March 1864 and May 1872, the Club was allotted a room in the Town Hall, where the Original Side Courts were being held. Once the High Court relocated to the present building, two rooms were allotted to the Club. As the same was insufficient, another room, then used as the Jury room, was allotted in 1903 by Chief Justice Sir Francis Maclean. In 1897, the Bar Library secured a room on the second floor, which was for some time used for luncheon, but by the turn of the century, the Club was obliged to convert the second-floor room as a Library hall for the accommodation of new members. In the past, the Bar Library had branches in the Presidency Court of Small Causes, the Police Courts at Bankshall Street and Jorabagan and the Alipore Court.

The first meeting of the Club was held on 15th June 1825 with the then Advocate General, John Pearson in the Chair. The fee committee was introduced in 1827 and in 1873 the system of listing defaulting Attorneys was introduced. The system of election of new member by ballot was introduced in 1833. In 1845 it was decided that no practising attorney could be a member of the Club. Meetings held by the members of the Bar Library Club since its inception have often seen interesting resolutions being passed. At a meeting held on 29th May 1852, the Club passed a resolution that the name of a member, who was guilty of a marital offence, be erased from the list of members, and that his admission fee be returned. A few years later, on 4th July 1860, a resolution was passed which "gave rise to the rule that no conversation which takes place between members within the Club should be repeated outside": "That it is essential to the maintenance of harmony and good feelings of the profession that no publicity shall be given to conversation which shall take place in the Bar Library."

The Bar Library Club is both a library and a club. It is a fairly comprehensive Law Library, and as a club it has been a centre of good fellowship. In the words of the legendary journalist and artist Desmond Doig, "There is ... a sense of judicious levity, particularly in the Bar Library, to suggest that the law has a sense of humour, and a heart." The library consists of Reports, Text Books, Codes of Law, and miscellaneous books, which include Common Law Pleading, Statutes and State Trials. Some of these rare tomes still adorn the shelves of the library, though a few, like the Hyde Papers, are now with the Victoria Memorial for better preservation. One of the valued possessions of the Club is the "Suggestion Book" (popularly called the "Scrap Book"), in two volumes, which is the repository of the wit and humour of the members who love to laugh, sometimes even at their own expense, and which also contains a number of legal cartoons. Unfortunately, today only one of the volumes seems to be available. Apart from books, the Club possesses a number of portraits of some distinguished members whose names are bound up with the traditions of the Calcutta Bar.

The Club organises various events and functions including the occasional Bar Dinners and the annual cricket festival match amongst others. On 15th June 1925, the centenary of the Club was celebrated under the Presidency of Mr Satish Ranjan Das, Advocate General, at a dinner at the Dalhousie Institute, in course of which Mr Das delivered a speech. A commemorative volume was also brought out that year. In 1975, the Club celebrated its sesquicentenary. A commemorative volume was also brought out that year.

The rich traditions of the Bar Library Club, courtesy to fellow members and adherence to certain well-cultivated norms were not built in a day. They were slowly and steadily developed by a galaxy of members. The Bar Library Club has had an eventful history spanning nearly two centuries, eventful not only for the members of the Club, but also in the context of the history of modern India. As Late Anil Chandra Ganguli, Barrister at Law, once pithily put it: “The Bar Library Club has been not merely a Club for the professional purpose of its members but also a rich fountain from which have sprung multi-coloured streams of thought, flowing through numerous channels of national life – legislation, adjudication, law reporting, administration of law, commissions on law, interpretation of law, literature, journalism, education, physical culture, social service, politics, and last but not the least, search for the Self.”