PAGEANT OF ENGLISH LAW

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 28 January 1933, Page 14

PAGEANT OF ENGLISH LAW

Meaning of Legal Insignia

X7"EAIt after year the pageant of English IaAA- moves through the Abbey and across to the Palace of Westminster. Black and gold, scarlet and white, and purple blend together in a procession which is a living epitome of the continuous tradition of our kiw. Francis Bacon put on just such a robe of black and gold as Lord Sankey, the Lord High Chancellor, Keeper of the King’s Conscience, Keeper of the Great Seal, and Speaker of the House of Lords, wears as he leads the way. Next comes the Master of Rolls very similarly robed, ‘for his title Avas originally attached to a sort of assistant Chancery Judgeship. Since the law ’reforms of the ’seventies it lias belonged to the President of the Court of Appeal. The Appeal Judges, including the President of the Probate, Divorce, andAdmiralty Division, who is a member of the Court, Avear the same black and gold as the Master of Bolls, for the Court of Appeal also had its beginning in Chancery jurisdiction, says the “Manchester Guardian.” Gorgeous after the sober -splendour of the Superior the Justices of the High Court in scarlet and ermine. As the ceremonial dress of the Common Luav Judges, this costume goes back farther than we can trace. In illuminations of fifteenth century manuscripts the robes shown are essentially the same as those worn to-day. Their origin may be ecclesiastical oxscholastic. Ko one knoAVS. In the earliest times individual taste probably had its variations, but by an elaborate order -drawn- up in the time of Lord Chief Justice Brannrston —who come to grief over King Charles’ Ship Money venture —the dress of the Judges on all occasions Avas minutely regulated and since then has hardly changed. Thus, but for his long Stuart hair, Mr Justice Powell, standing on his monument in Gloucester Cathedral, might step down and join his successors of to day unnoticed. The Lord Chief Justice is -distinguished by -his great golden collar entwined Avith the letters “-S.S,” As a badge of nobility this collar goes back no one knows lioav far. According to Dugdale, it commemorates Saint Simplicius, who was martyred under Diocletian. In Tudor times it became the special mark of the Chief Justices. Thus, when the great Sir Edward Coke was dismissed from the office he refused to part with

his “S.S.” collar in order that liis posterity ‘ ‘ might one day know they had 1 a Chief Justice to their ancestor.” By contrast, the purple of the County Court Judges goes back less than twenty years —an addition to the dignity of our youngest Courts. On the other hand, the black silk gown, knee-breeches and buckled shoos of the King’s Counsel are, in fact, the -Court,mourning assumed by the profession- for the funeral of Queen Mary 11. Strangely enough, the wig itself, which is the characteristic mark of the English lawyer, ha-s no symbolic significance. It is simply a frozen fashion which Lord Chancellor Campbell ridiculed as a “grotesque ornament fit only for a West African chief.” However, the little hollow which the observant will- notice in the crown of the wig has an older tradition than the wig itself. Till the King’s Counsel ca-me to be the leaders of the Bar the serjeants held the foremost legal rank, and only they could become Judges. From the earliest origins of our law tshe badge of thle serjeant was a black, close-fitting cap or “coif.” When Avigs came into fashion it was found hard to wear the “coif” on top of it, and as wigs grew bigger the “coif” grew smaller, till at last it shrank to a little black patch on the crown-. Ko serjeant has been created in England since 1870, and Lord Lindley, the last of the .old order, died in 1920, but the Judges’ wigs still have the hollow for the little A-anished cap. On working days the traditional magnificence is -not. displayed. The great, full-bottomed- Avig has- for over a eicntury been replaced by the small Court wig. The Appeal, the Chancery, and the Divorce Judges sit in plain black gowns. The King’s Bench Judges, however, t-lianks to the regulations of Chief Justice Bramston, have more variety, changing the colour and trimmings of their robes according to the -day, the occasion, and the season of the year. What is the good of it all? That raises the old quarrel of utilitarianism. But, in brief, ceremony is to. the State Avhat- good manners are to the individual. In the legal world it testifies that the scales of justice do not stand on a counter, that our Judges are not dealing in a commodity, but preserving an inheritance and, if an- inheritance, a trust for posterity.