CAVALCADE OF JUDGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20420, 23 November 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAVALCADE OF JUDGES.

DEPARTED GLORY.

PICTURESQUE CUSTOM LOST

PRESENT-DAY TRAIN TRAVEL

For hundreds of years His" Majesty's judges have been going on circuit,, but only for a short time, compared with the antiquity of the itinerant courts, have they travelled by train. In the administration of the law, many a long-standing blemish or shameful iniquity ' has been removed, and many a picturesque custom, too, perhaps, lias become.obsolete. There has been gain iri celerity and. etliejeiicv, but there has also been somfe loss in dignity and* grapdeur. A description extant enables us to realise what a. brave sight it must have been long ago, before ever coaches were commonly used, to witness the judicious cavalcade on its long and tedious journey. First rode the circuit-porter, " clad iri leathern jerkin, with 0W jackboots, bearing in his Ikiikl a goodly ebony' \van,l capped with silver." His duty it was to cause all men of what estate soever, .whom they met or overtook, to draw aside and do reverence to the majesty of the law. On his appearance the wayfarer doffed' bat and bended knee to watch the King's representative pass by. Impressive in Dignity.

Next followed the clerks of the judge, gentlemen in holy orders, sha\cn and shorn, well skilled tn the wondrous penmanship and still more curious NormanFrench and law-Latin of the day. Behind them rode with stately mien the most important personage save the judge, the clerk of the assize, long-bearded and' grave of aspect. Within his stout and well-secured saddle-bags reposed the essential documents authorising the operation of the machinery of justice, especially the royal commission. To-tutv such commissions are drawn out in much the same words, with the Great Seal of England attached, empowering the high functionaries named therein to try all the manifold crimes and offences, causes and disputes. " . Close to the clerk oi the assize rode ins officers, and then three or four learned sergeants of the Ja-\v in their, led rubes and hoods, followed by " my lord, the King's justice," "an old man of reverend aspect, riding upon, an ancient mule, and clothed in a long red coat of the finest broadcloth faced with, velvet, sleeves and collar thickly embroidered with gold, on his head the square black cap (now the awful forerunner of death), the border of a white satin coif , peeping forth beneath. Solemn was he of countenance, or ought to have been, pondering the weighty responsibilities of settling the. fate of so many beings. - .<

Meeting of Armed Retinues. Behind the judge, at the setting out from the courts at-Westminster, rode the sheriffs of London and Middlesex and their escort for the judge of stout and well-armed' retai net's, .tti conduct him out of their bailiwicks.; At the tail oi the procession came the. serving-men and sumpter-horses. Miie ;iiter mile_ the cavalcade proceeded, the boundary of each county witnessing the departure of one sheriff's escort arid the arrival of another armed retinue. On the way through the land royal noblemen and gentry eagerly offered hospitality, and whether in lordly mansion or great hostelry, each night t lie judge was feasted and lodged right royally.

Roger North describes how, in-the time of Charles IL, travelling from Newcastle to Carlisle, the judges were escorted along the road by the tenants of the various manors, "a.comical sort-*of peoplp. riding on nags, as they call, their small horses, with long beards, cloaks and long broadswords -with basket hilts." Such a formidable array .was. qpt uncalled for in the wild Border country, wh'ere'the'ta'vtes frcebooting exploits of Jock of Hazeldene and Wat Harden were still recent memories.

At each assize town the inhabitants flocked to witness the judge's arrival. The high sheriff and a long train of javelin men and trumpeters, .with all the gentlemen of the county on horseback, were waiting to receive him. Statute 20 Richard IT. forbade " any lord or other of the county, little or great, to sit upon the bench with the justices," save the sheriff. Ho alone was by the side of the judge, when, seated in aw/ul state, ho heard and often directed the pleas of the trembling prisoners or charged the obsequious jury. Travelling by Coach.

There was a long period during which judges rode in their coaches! Weclderburri and Erskine. perhaps as Scots delighting .to astonish the Southrons, were famous for the splendour of their equipages. On the other hand, Lord Eldon, even when Lord Chancellor, went about in. a battered ramshackle coach that excited the derision of the street boys.- Erskine, even at an advanced age, could well have travelled on circuit in the saddle, for he remained a splendid horseman, but Eldon never bestrode a horse if he could avoid it.

The glory of the judge's progress has sadly diminished and their retinue dwindled away. They are "well "advised to retain all that- remains of ancient pomp —the reception by the sheriff and other officials, the attendance of javelin-men, the special service at church, and so on. " Where are your trumpeters, Mr. Sheriff?" demanded a judge in a certain university town. " Why. my lord." was the reply, " I considered those fellows useless and determined to discontinue them." Then the judge waxed wroth. " Mr. Sheriff, fifty years ago I was a student of this university, poring over, my boc.':s in my room, when I heard the trumpeters usher the judge into the town. Their notes sounded so sweetlvin my ears that I resolved I would one day be a judge. Sir, I have respected trumpeters ever since, and I determir.e not to discontinue them. If two are not in attendance to-morrow morning. I shall fine you a hundred pounds." Onslaughts of Fleas.

' Even within the memory of judges still nlivo there used to be cause for complaint at the lodgings provided for thein in somo towns. There might then he an unseemly squabble with the sheriff, and the judge usually vented his grievances to the grand jury. A certain witty judge concluded his charge to the panel with the words: "Gentlemen, to-morrow morning 1 will proceed to try. with the assistance of (he petty jury, those prisoners against whom you present true hills—if indeed 1 find myself able to do so, uespoeting which I have some doubt, fearing I can scarcely survive a repetition of last night's onslaughts of fleas andlarger animals infesting the filthy abode which your loyal sheriff, with your approbation, has chosen for the habitation of the representatives of your Sovereign."

« There used to be a curious custom, when the names of the magistrates of the countv were read over by the clerk of asszie, and they were invited bv the. judge in open court to dine with him, of the crier holding beforo each a white glove fastened on a wand, into which lie had to drop a shilling. Some justices of the peace used to nickname the judge's dinner " the shilling ordinary," and so their lordships abolished the quaint custom. In the old days of slower travel an exceptionally long calendar might cause difficulty in beginning at the following town 011 the circuit on the day named ;n tho commission On more than one occasion business at one assize town has been concluded only late in the day appointed for opening at the next place, and the hard-worked judge and clerk of >as.sizo have rattled off in their coach, up hill and down dale, with fresh horses at every posting house, and entered the assi'.e town barely in time for the royal commission to bo read by candlelight while midnight rang out from the neighbouring steeple.