Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1909-10-16
NO NEED FOR CAPS AND Gowns

AO NEED FDh NARSs AND WUN NS
The justices of the Supreme Court,
it is said, are hesitating about wear
ing the cap and gown costumes of
European courts. They fear that
some minor portion of the bar may
scott at the innovation and that the
public may throw jibes at their ex-
pense. The suggestion, too, that the
judges of the Superior courts give ad-
ditional dignity to their tribunals by
adopting a similar judicial costume
does not seem to find eager acquies-
cence on the part of all the bench. 1t
is said that many of the Superior
court judges likewise favor caps and
gowns but are timid about introducing
them, each waiting for his brother
judge of the adjoining circuit to set
the example
The only contention set up in sup
port of the proposed innovation is that
it would enhance the dignity of the
court and elevate it in the opinion of
the general public This is a serious
reflection on the Judiciary. as now
constituted, and on the common sense
of the general public. If the judiciary
is made up of men who depend on
such extraneous trappings as a cap
and gown to inspire respect for them
| selves and their official position it is
| time Georgia made wholesale
change. And if the public has so
lost its respect for the courts that
such trappings are needed to rehabil-
itate them it is even more advisable
that there be clean sweep made. But
as matter of fact we all know this
is not true. The judges do not need
caps and gowns to maintain the re-
spect of the people, and the people do
not need to see their judges so at
tired in order to feel respect for them.
The proposition is manifestly an abb
surd one, from whatever viewpoint
| taken.
AS matter of fact the cap and
gown proposition should be laughed
out of court Why on earth does the
Supreme Court need to deck itself up
in such array? About the only persons
who ever see that court in session are
the lawyers. Do the lawyers, who are
pressing this matter really feel that it
is not a sufficiently dignifed body, and
/ that they must feast their eyes on
vision of judges charmingly arrayed in
black satin gowns, in order to really
feel that they are before such an au-
gust tribunal? And when it comes
down to the Superior court, where is
there any evidence that the people
would bow more willingly to the judg-
ments of the courts because the men
who hand them down sit gowned in
| semi-feminine attire instead of ordi-
nary coats and breeches? The truth
of the matter is, the judge who is not
able to inspire respect for his court,
to maintain the proper decorum while
it is in session, and to have the people
feel that he is just, impartial and able,
without such fiummery as is now pro-
posed, has no business on the bench
and the sooner he gets off the better
We doubt if there is such judge in
the whole state of Georgia.
The sole tendency q the cap and
gown would be to seDar ., or en-
deavor to separate, the judiciary from
the bar and the people, with greater
gulf than may now exist. There is
tinge of an effort to establish aristo-
cratic tendencies in the court rooms
/ that cannot be too effectively frowned
down. The tendency In this country
should be to get farther away from
| such ridiculous manifestations, to
laugh down such apeings of the Euro
pean courts, and to maintain a demo-
cratic simplicity that is not without
its own impressive dignity when jul
dicial honors are bestowed on men of
| genuinely high character and pro-
fessional standing. The cap and the
| gown would add nothing to the stat
ure of an able and honorable judge,
and any other type would speedily
make asses of themselves through the
pompous strut they would assume
from the dignity" the new insignia of
high official position conferred upon
them. Laugh the whole thing out of
court. That's the proper ending for