Notes and Queries for Worcestershire

by John Noake

The Hood.—Judges sometimes wear the ermine hood with their scarlet robes. The barrister has a black hood (useless from its small size) attached to the back of his gown.

The Judge's Court Hat.—An equilateral cocked hat. The gentleman's hat temp. George II.

The Black Coat and Waistcoat.—The bar did not uniformly wear these till after the general mourning for Queen Anne. Before this time the barristers wore coats and waistcoats of any colour under their gowns, as the undergraduates of Oxford do now. But at this general mourning the Judges thought that the bar in the uniform black dress looked so well that they suggested its continuance, and it has been continued ever since. Indeed, it seems to be pretty clear that a black waistcoat was not always a part of the costume of the bar, as even now, on full dress occasions, the Queen's Counsel wear waistcoats of gold or silver tissue, or of white silk embroidered with coloured flowers. On ecclesiastical and forensic costume in general the Rev. Dr. Burn (before cited) observes that "most of the peculiar habits, both in the Church and in Courts of Justice, and in the Universities, were in their day the common habit of the nation, and were retained by persons and in places of importance only as having an air of antiquity, and thereby in some sort conducing to attract veneration, and the same, on the other hand, in proportion do persuade to a suitable gravity of demeanour, for an irreverent behaviour in a venerable habit is extremely burlesque and ungraceful."

The Barrister's Bag.—At present the younger barristers have blue bags, the elder having red ones. Down to the reign of George IV no barrister carried a bag in Court unless it had been given to him by a King's Counsel, which arose in this way. Down to that period the King's Counsel had no salaries, but each was allowed every year a ream of foolscap paper, a ream of draft paper, six pieces of red tape, six bags, a penknife, a paper of sand, and a paper of pins. These bags being more than they wanted for their own use, some of them were given by them from time to time to their younger friends, who were getting into business, to entitle them, as the phrase was, "to carry a bag," the clerk, who was the bearer of the present, having a fee of a guinea for it. But at last the King's Counsel complaining that the paper was bad, the amount paid by the Government for the allowances was given to them instead, and so matters continued until Mr. (afterwards Lord) Denman was appointed King's Counsel, when fearing that this commuted allowance might be the means of vacating his seat in Parliament, he was appointed King's Counsel "without any fee, gain, or reward whatsoever," and so have been all the King's and Queen's Counsel ever since.

Opening the Pleadings.—At present the junior counsel for the plaintiff, in a Nisi Prius cause, shortly states the effect of the pleadings. This is called "opening the pleadings." This practice was introduced at the suggestion of Lord Mansfield, early in the reign of George III. The Nisi Prius business in London was then monopolised by Sir Fletcher Norton, Mr. Dunning, and a few other leaders, and to throw something into the hands of the juniors Lord Mansfield suggested the practice that in every case where a King's Counsel was alone for the plaintiff a junior should have a guinea fee to state or open the pleadings. This was acceded to; but as the clients thought this of no use to them, they had a second brief delivered to a junior with two guineas, and the junior then assisted the leader throughout the cause, as the practice is now; but even at present, if a plaintiff has only engaged Queen's Counsel or Serjeants, the youngest counsel present is paid a guinea to open the pleadings only, and do nothing more in the cause; and this is called a "kite."

Assize Balls.—The late Mr. Bellamy, who went the Oxford and other circuits for sixty-two years, and who died in 1845, remembered that in every county on this circuit there was an assize ball on the commission day of each assize. This ball was attended by the nobility and gentry of the county and the Judges and Bar. The Judges used to wear to the balls the black silk gown, band, and the two-curl bob-wig. They were attended by the High Sheriff, wearing a full court dress, bag-wig, and sword; and his chaplain, in his gown, cassock, and band. The Judges did not dance, but they usually played at whist. The assize ball was continued in Buckinghamshire within the memory of the Rev. Edward Owen, one of the present magistrates of that county.

The Courts.—In the recollection of Mr. Bellamy, in every assize town on the Oxford circuit the two Courts were held in the same room, without any division or partition, so that one Judge could see the other. This continued at Gloucester till the year 1816, and the alteration was occasioned by this circumstance: Baron (then Judge) Bayley was trying a man for murder, and his jury burst into a laugh at one of Mr. Dauncey's jokes in a horse cause in the other Court. The learned Judge thought it was time this was altered.

Assize Presents.—Formerly the Judges on their circuits had an immense number of presents—venison, fruit, wine, &c.—which half kept their house during the assizes; but in the year 1794, when so much was subscribed for the defence of the nation against the threatened invasion, the value of the different presents was subscribed, and the presents discontinued, and never again renewed. About thirty years ago a story was current in Worcester that the Mayor always sent the Judges a present of a loaf of sugar, and that the Judges in return invited the Mayor to dine with them; but that the Mayor being once uninvited, the sugar was discontinued ever after. Till the passing of the Municipal Reform Act the Corporation of Gloucester always sent each Judge in spring a salmon and a house lamb, and in summer a salmon and a whole sheep; and at present the Corporation of Oxford give to each Judge a pair of white kid gloves, edged with gold lace, and ornamented with gold tassels.

The High Sheriff's Costume.—Of late years, in Worcestershire, the High Sheriff has dressed as any other gentleman. In Berkshire and Oxfordshire the High Sheriff's costume is a court dress, and it was so till lately in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire; but as the present court dress was first introduced in the early part of the reign of George III, the bag-wig in the reign of George II, and as swords were worn by all the gentlemen as part of their usual evening dress, within the memory of Mrs. Hannah Shenton, of Stafford, who is now living at the advanced age of ninety-seven, it is manifest that the High Sheriff only appeared in the full dress of a gentleman of his time. And as a further proof that the costume of the High Sheriff was the full dress of the private gentleman of the period, there is a portrait of Francis Goddard, Esq., High Sheriff of Wiltshire, in the reign of King William III, now in the possession of Major Goddard, of the Wilts Militia, in which the High Sheriff is wearing a full-bottomed wig.