The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-04-26
Ia wigs and Gowns.

Woman, says Addison, quoting from
Aforgotten Greek pedant, Is creature
that delights in decorating itself. and
the essayist deyotes whole paper inthe,
Spectator to establish that in all ages she
has taken more pains than man to adorn
the outside Of the head. The ceremony
at the opening of the new law courts by
the Queen tends to modify this exclusive
belief. The Lord Chief Justice in his
IS collar, the Judges in their full-bot-t
toned wigs the Sergeants in their scarlet
gowns and the Queens counsel in their
silk attire, put in, all of them, such an
81 appeaFanceas showed that their valued
decoration generally, and were not quite
careless even about the outside of their
81 heads. Arguments and case law lay no
doubt in tight-packed layers within but
outside it the goat hair and the horse
hair, in well-trimmed rows, made the
old men look wise, and some of the
young men look, handsome. But in truth
it would be an Injustice to the law to
aseribe to vanity what is chiefly the lega-
cy of past centuries. 1t was said that
'~- norman erlooke led so wise as Lord Thur
lowswhenshe had his wig on. But Lord
Thurlow put his wigon. not in order to
look wise, butbecausewhole generations
of chancellors had worn wigs before
him. Law is the most conservative of
all the professions; innovation and re-
form5haVe been busy with it and yet it is
still padded round with mysteries,
fictions and forms which the others have
long ago. Rejected There is legend
yet whispered about and fondly believed
in at Westminster that on the 22d of
July, 1868,sso great was the heat the
Judge of the. Divorce Court took his
seat on the bench without hisagig. The
following day several Young barris-
tiers Followed this revolutionary pre-
cedent, and unless the mercury had
fallen the profession would have been
sieopardizea.E, The , noble independ-
ence OF the law and its proud supe-
riority overs con Yenience and gcommon
sense came out in Strong contrast on that
sgOecasion to the selfshness ssofs another
bench. It was Bishop eBlomfeld, the
late Primate' predecessor, who asked
- the Kings permission for a Bishop to
dispense with a wig. The leave was
easily given; indeed, according to one
version, it was volunteered iocalarlF.
The Bishops went over one by one, voted
uncovered, preached in their own hair.
and have left us nothing but the sketch
of DIR. Syntax and the portrait of Bishop
Burnett to remind us of the days when
law and divinity had goats hair in
common. But even at the bar there are
signs'o surrender. When the Judges
were banked upon their platform in the
hCentral Hall on Monday morning their
wigs were not uniform. Some were all
white and in others, the white was re-
lieved by acircular constructed inst over
their organ of benevolenee.,, Lazy is the
perfection of common sense, and for all
legal attire there is an adequate cause.
This black patch is the colt, and it shows
that the Judgezwho wears it holds the
degree of Sergeant-at-law Once it was
. q skpll5cap worn by a knight under IA
Helmet, That was, however, many cen
turies ago. In more modern times-a
littlebefpre 1900 A. ID. -renegadeclargy-
men used todoharristefS Mofk and fake
baFTisters' fees A canon, it is true,
forbade them to act us advocates in seeu-
lar courts. uteyen then clergymen were
conttmacious. They pleaded for their
clients in the teeth of canonical prohibit
tiongand they used the Golf to hide the
tonsure., One. picturesque old annalist,
writing about the year 400, describes
how certain advocate, who was a Ser
geant, having been proved gtlltyof the
grossest malversasion, was sentenced to
death. He pleaded his benefit of clergy.
and untying the threads of his Golf, dis
closed the tonsure. The plea, however.
- wasno bar TO the action of the exeeu-
TONER, and he was hurried off from the
judgment seat TO the gallows For six
centuries the Sergeants remained in nm
= disturbed possession of that little black
patch. They had their own rights and.
their own inn. Queens counsel were of
mushroom growth compared to them;
thelrtffs silk gown was almost of mmleln
date. Francis Bacon (afterward Lcrd
= Nerulam) assumed it some time in the
sixteenth century, The Sergeants dated
with the thirteenth. And for centuries
Judges, before they had the honor of
being made Judges, had tae honor of
being made Sergeants; and so twas they
calledthe Sergeants their brethren, and so
twas they, too, had the little black patch
the summit of their wigs Butleeisla-
ton has latterly been very cruel to them.
The Judicature act has extinguished the
order, and the forensic wig maker has
sold off all his colts. The Judges created
ei before the year 1873 preserve the old
custom but all subsequent Judges have
the white hair nnspotted when they take
their seats upon the bench.
Gowns are of older date than wigs
Indeed, at one time our bar is said TO
have worn the tocque, not very different
from what the French advocates carry
tolthe present day, on what Miss Terry
had on when she appeared at Balthasari
before the Dodge. But lawyers always
wore robes, and there wf formerly more
variety, or at least more etiquette, in
their adoption. The customs exist.
ilIst they are nvtslg adhered to. The
variety IN a Judge s. robes con
meets his position with its Origin. It
/ was clerky sestfnent, and zhe color
OF it was described by the calendar.
ne red gowns We're to be worn on red
letter days, the violet on such occasions
as the church directed. but during a |
criminal trial the Judge elwavs wore
red. 4 or the prisoner in thedock. black i