dress worn when trying criminal cases, attending church
officially, and on “red letter days” in the courts, consists of a
scarlet gown, with a broad black belt, a tippet trimmed with
white fur, known by courtesy as “ermine” (this is worn only
on state occasions), and a scarlet casting-hood, always worn
with the scarlet gown, the end of which is passed under the
belt. For summer the robes are of thinner stuff, faced with
slate-coloured silk instead of ermine. The full-bottomed wig
is worn on state occasions; at other times a wig is Worn
similar to that of barristers, except that it has one vertical
curl just above the tail of the wig instead of the three rows
of horizontal curls going all the way round.
The judges of the King’s Bench Division have also a black gown, trimmed with ermine, which may be worn with the scarlet casting-hood when they sit two or more together. The summer equivalent of the black robes is in thin blue stuff, faced with silk. A costume like that of King’s Counsel, namely, a black silk gown, with black cloth court suit, is the dress of judges when sitting alone to try civil actions, and of vice chancellors and judges of the Chancery Division, but Sir Herbert Stephen remarks that of late years certain of the judges have preferred on grounds of comfort the black or blue gown with scarlet casting-hood. The court dress of the judges of the High Court and of Indian and colonial judges consists of a black damask tufted gown, without train, worn over a black velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands and three-cornered silk hat.[1]
The Lord Chancellor, when in the House of Lords, and sitting on Appeals, wears a black silk trained gown, over a black cloth court suit, with full-bottomed wig; he has also his peer’s robe (see above), and his state robe of black damask with gold lace, worn over a velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands, &c.; the purse is carried on state occasions when in the royal presence. The state robe of the Master of the Rolls, the Lords justices of the Court of Appeal, and the President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Divisions is the same, except that they have not the purse, and similar to it is the full-dress gown of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. The Lords justices of the Court of Appeal sit in court in a costume similar to that of King’s Counsel.
The Lords of Appeal have no official robes, but sit in ordinary civilian dress. On state occasions they wear their peers' robes. The robes of state of the Lord Chief Justice of England are the same as those of the judges of the High Court, except that his are trained, and he wears the gold chain of office, the “ collar of SS.”
The Scottish judges have two sets of robes, one for justiciary (i.e. the criminal court), which is also their full dress, and one for civil causes (Court of Session). The dress for the President and Ordinary Lords of Session was fixed in 1610 by an order of James I., and was of purple cloth, faced with crimson satin, with hood to match, the President’s gown having crimson velvet instead of satin. The four “extraordinary Sessionaries” were to wear black velvet, satin, or silk gowns, lined with black. The Lord justice General wore a scarlet gown lined with ermine and an ermine hood, the Lord justice Deputy and Lord justice Clerk black gowns with crimson satin facings and hoods (see Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 612). At the foundation of the High Court of justiciary (1672) it was enacted “that for the splendour of that court, all the judges sit in red robes, faced with white, that of the Justice Generalls being lined with ermine for distinction from the rest” (see Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 88). The present full dress of the Lord justice General is a scarlet silk robe with tippet and hood, the hood falling down the back; the collar is of ermine, with which the tippet, sleeves and gown are edged and the hood lined. The Lord justice Clerk wears a scarlet cloth robe and hood, and a white silk tippet lined with scarlet, the silk being perforated with small holes to imitate ermine, as also on the sleeves and edges of the gown. In front of the tippet on each side are two crosses in scarlet silk, and on each side of the gown six crosses. The ordinary Lords Commissioners of justiciary have robes the same as those of the Lord justice Clerk, except that the satin is not perforated. Instead of the bands worn by English judges, the Scottish judges wear a long fall in front.
The Bar.—There appears to have been no official costume for the bar until the end of the 17th century. Druitt (Costume in Brasses, pp. 232–33) gives a list of several brasses of in lege periti, or apprenticii ad legem, most of whom wear ordinary civilian costume, occasionally with the addition of a high cap. In the 16th and 17th centuries they wear the false-sleeved gown worn by civilians. Before the 17th century the costume worn by students at the Inns of Court and by “Utter Barristers” consisted of a stuff gown, and sometimes, in term-time, a round cap, which was worn in hall and in church (see Herbert, History of the Inns of Court (1804), p. 230). In Westminster Hall (see Pulling, p. 223) the same costume was worn, Benchers and Readers having a more elaborate gown with facings of black velvet and tufts of silk. Frequent laws were passed in the 16th century and later, forbidding the wearing of swords, cloaks, boots and spurs, &c., in hall, and insisting on the wearing of gowns by students of the Inns of Court when walking in the city. In the 17th century, barristers, like the judges, adopted wigs, the full-bottomed wigs being confined to judges, “ King’s Counsellors, ” &c., and ordinary counsellors wearing small wigs. In Hollar’s engraving of the Coronation of Charles II. the King's Counsel, the King’s Attorney and Solicitor, and the Master of the Rolls wear a laced gown with hanging sleeves. The silk gown, full-bottomed wig and black court dress now worn by King’s Counsel is generally held to date from the funeral of Queen Mary II., being the mourning dress worn by the wish of King William for a considerable period after the queen’s death, and adopted as a convenient costume ever since. There is a well known jest of Chief Baron Pollock to the effect that “the Bar went into mourning at the death of Queen Anne, and never came out again,” which bears out this theory as to the origin of the costume. At the present time barristers wear black stuff gowns, with small wigs having three rows of curls round the head. King’s Counsel wear black silk gowns over a cloth court suit (cp. the expression “ to take silk, ” i.e. to become a K.C.); on full-dress occasions they wear a full-bottomed wig, and at court a black damask tufted gown over a velvet court suit. This is also the dress for state occasions of the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, &c.
Municipal and Civic Robes.—The word “livery,” the use of which is now practically confined to the costume of the “livery companies, ” the dress of men-servants, &c., originally meant an' allowance of food or clothing granted to certain persons (Lat. liberata, Fr. livrée). It is still used of the allowances of food made to the fellows of certain colleges. As early as the 13th century, according to Matt. Paris (Chron. Maj.; Rolls Series, III. 337), we find the citizens of London assuming a uniform dress to do honour to some great occasion, as, e.g., when in 1236 a body of them rode out to meet Henry III. and Queen Eleanor, “sericis vestimentis ornati, cicladibus auro textis circumdati, excogitatis mutatoriis amicti, ” or when 600 citizens rode out to meet Queen Margaret, wife of Edward I., “in one livery of red and white, with the cognizance’s of their mysteries embroidered upon their sleeves ” (see Stow.'s Survey, ed. Morley, p. 444). By the 14th century there is evidence of the adoption of liveries by the trades and fraternities. At the celebrations of the birth of Edward III. (see Riley’s Memorials, p. 105) the mayor and aldermen were “richly arrayed in suits of robes,” while the drapers, mercers and vintners were also “in costume.” This need not, however, refer to liveries. G. Unwin (The Gilds of London, 1908) quotes a chronicler who records that by the year 1319 “ many of the people
- ↑ Minute details of court and levée dress, judicial and legal, will be found in Dress worn at Court (pp. 60–61), issued with the authority of the Lord Chamberlain, and ed. H. A. P. Trendell, of the Lord Chamberlain’s department (London, 1908),—also details of mourning costume.
