Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/656

 Judicial Costume in England. immemorial worn robes when performing their judicial duties in open court, though not when sitting in chambers. These vest ments are supposed to be of ecclesiastical origin, and they recall a period when clerical and judicial offices had not as yet been dif ferentiated. In Anglo-Saxon times the bishop sat as one of the presidents of the shire mote or county court, and down to the sixteenth century the lord chancellor was frequently an ecclesiastic. The colour of the robes was probably prescribed at one time by the cal endar of the church, and still depends on the time of year and the occurrence of saints' days, as well as on the nature of the partic ular functions which the judge happens to be exercising. The robes are of three colours—black, pur ple and scarlet. The black robe is trimmed with ermine; the purple with shot silk, and the red robe with ermine in Michaelmas and Hilary, but with shot silk in Easter and Trin ity Terms. At sittings in banco, where the court is composed of two or more judges who hear appeals, informations, applications for mandamus and for writs of certiorari, and other matters within the cognizance of the Queen's bench, the judges wear the black robes trimmed with ermine in Michaelmas and Hilary, but the purple in Easter and Trin ity Terms. On saints' days and at criminal trials they array themselves in their scarlet robes, trimmed with ermine or shot silk, and carry with them the black cap which is placed over the wig before passing sentence of death. This cap, which is simply a piece of limp cloth, is also worn by the judges in the presence of the sovereign and when the lord mayor of London goes to the Law Courts on the gth of November to be sworn in. A broad girdle of silk always confines the robe round the waist. A hood is gener ally worn over the shoulders and chest, and in addition the Serjeant's tippet, which in ap pearance resembles a broad sash passing from the right shoulder downwards to the left side. When sitting for the trial of ac

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tions with or without a jury, the judge wears his robes without the hood. While cambric bands, much like those of a clergyman, are invariably worn as part of the judicial cos tume. The lord chief justice wears over his robes on state occasions the gold collar of S. S., the origin of which is lost in ambiguity. By some the letters S. S. are said to stand for Seneschalbes or Steward. Others maintain that the collar acquired its name from its resem blance to a series of S's. Wigs, which are still worn by English judges and barristers, are a much more mod ern institution than gowns. They appeared in England about the reign of Elizabeth, and though they have been out of fashion since the time of George III., they have never been laid aside by the legal profession. Bar risters wear a wig just as it appeared before its extinction as a fashion. " I can hear you, Mr. So-and-So, but I cannot see you," is the usual formula,with which a barrister is greeted, if he attempts to address the court minus his wig and gown. The judges have two sorts of wigs. On ordinary occasions they wear a small tye wig, resembling that of the last century, but on being sworn in, on state occasions, and in charging the grand jury, they are arrayed in the full-bottomed wig, which, though be coming, is heavy and inconvenient to a de gree. It was formerly the custom to have the wig powdered, but this fashion has now almost entirely died out. In Lord Eldon's day the powdefed bush wig was part of a judge's ordinary attire, even when not sitting in court. Baron Parke's wig earned him the sobriquet of " Bushey Park." Formerly all the judges had the degree of serjeant-at-law and were members of a soci ety or Inn of Court called Serjeants' Inn. But the Supreme Court of Judicature, Act of 1875, extinguished this ancient order by abolishing the rule that judges must be selected from those who had attained the degree of serjeant. The judges appointed