As he approached 18, he decided that he must go to Queens' College at Cambridge University after the discoveries of his great-uncle who was keen on genealogies.[7] He had discovered a couple of ancestors who in the 16th century had worked their way from Wales to Cambridge, inspiring him to do the same.[7] Upon graduating in 1949 with a starred first and then completing a postgraduateLLB in 1950, he was elected a fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was a lecturer at the University of Cambridge from 1952 until his promotion to a readership in 1969.[8]
He was involved in a case concerning the discovery by divers of the shipwrecks from the Spanish Armada of 1588, and had to advise the Foreign Office about the contents of the Spanish galleon on the coast of Ireland.[4] The issue concerned whether or not the gold and silver recovered from the wreck was disposable by law, or if it was still property of the Spanish government, or the property of a deceased Spanish Admiral.[4]
In 1999 the Selden Society instituted the David Yale Prize in his honour, awarded biennially to a young scholar (under the age of 35) for a distinguished contribution to the laws and legal institutions of England and Wales.
Yale was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1980 and was appointed an honorary Queen's Counsel by Elizabeth II for England and Wales in 2000, next to Nelson Mandela, who was also receiving his Queen's Counsel, and two others.[12][13] The Queen had to confer a special permission to the House of Lords for Mandela to receive his honorary Queen's Counsel as he wasn't a senior barrister in Britain.[13]
During the 17th century, King Charles I of the House of Stuart had given the rights to all mine and minerals within the old Lordship, and there was a contention between the Crown Estate and the family.[10] He worked on the side of the Grosvenors and the whole thing was settled through a settlement sum made by the Crown to the family.[10]