STATELY CEREMONY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22332, 1 February 1936, Page 15

STATELY CEREMONY

NEW KING'S COUNSEL LETTERS PATENT RECEIVED OBSERVANCE OF TRADITION A representative gathering of the legal profession attended the Supreme Court, Wellington, when Mr. P. B. Cooke received from the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, his Letters Patent as King's Counsel. The granting of Letters Patent to a new King's Counsel, and the call to him to take his place within the Bar as one of His Majesty's Counsel learned in the law involve a stately ceremony in which traditiou plays an important part. Mr. Justice Reed, senior puisne Judge, sat beside the Chief Justice on the Bench, and from the main body of the Court the ceremony was witnessed by Sir Frederick Chapman and Mr. Justice Ostler. Three King's Counsel, Sir Francis Bell, Mr. C. H. Weston and Mr. H. F. O'Leary, were also present. Numerous barristers attired in their wigs and gowns sat in the back benches —the outer Bar. After the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Reed had taken their seats on the Bench, Mr. Cooke from a seat in the outer Bar rose and made the following declaration:— "I, Philip Brunskill Cooke, do declare that well and truly I will serve the King as one of his counsel learned in the law, and truly counsel the King in his matters, when I shall be called, and duly and truly minister the King's matters and sue tho King's process after tho course of the law, and after my cunning. For any matter against the King, where the King is party, I will take no wages nor fee of any man. I will duly in convenient time speed such matters as any person shall have to do in the law against the King as I may lawfully do without long delay, tracting, or tarrying the party of his lawful process in that that to me belongeth. I will be attendant to the King's matters when I be called thereto." The Chief Justice then informed Mr. Cooke that His Excellency the Gover-nor-General had been pleased to appoint him one of His Majesty's Counsel learned in the law, and invited him to take his seat within the Bar. Mr. Cooke moved forward to his seat within the Bar. In accordance with tradition, the Chief Justice then said: —Mr. Cooke, do you move ? The new King's Counsel bowed gravely to tho Bench, to his fellowmembers of the inner Bar, and then to the junior members of the Bar. After receiving from the Chief Justice his Letters Patent, a document heavily bordered in black as a mark of respect to his late Majesty King George V., Mr. Cooke left the Court.