Judging by appearances

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 1

Judging by appearances

The Chief Justice (Sir Richard Wild) told a public meeting in Christchurch last night that he had no very strong personal views about court dress for lawyers. However, he said, Justice was a solemn business; its due dispatch required dignity and good order. Courts that had forgotten dignity and good order had soon Jost public respect Dignity and solemnity were assisted by a little ceremony—as shown by the wearing of ceremonial dress in the armed ser-

vices, the churches, the universities and even in Parliament “A special point about court robes is that they clothe every barrister with the same status before the court and jury. Indeed it does the same for judges. Henry Cecil makes the point in his Hamlyn Lectures of 1970: “ T am sure that the litigants at Willesden County Court took more notice of me in wig and robe than if I had simply worn a lounge suit I also suspect that, if you put prisoners

walking round the exercise yard at Wandsworth Prison into judicial robes and sat them on the Bench, everyone would think how teamed they looked. “ ‘Conversely, if you took all the members of the Court of Appeal, pot them into prison uniform and walked them round Wandsworth Prison yard, visitors would note their near-set eyes, receding chins and low foreheads.’ •That, of course,” said Sir Richard Wild, “refers to the Court of Appeal in England.”