Book contents
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume I
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I The Legal Profession
- PART II The Inns of Court and Chancery
- PART III Legal Education
- PART IV Courts and Jurisdictions
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume II
- Contents
- PART V Legal Literature
- PART VI Legal Antiquities
- 44 Westminster Hall
- 45 English Judges' Robes 1350–2008
- 46 The Earliest Serjeants' Rings
- 47 The Judicial Collar of SS
- 48 The Mystery of the Bar Gown
- PART VII Public Law and Individual Status
- PART VIII Criminal Justice
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume III
- Contents
- PART IX Private Law
- PART X General
- Bibliography of the Published Works of Sir John Baker
- Index
48 - The Mystery of the Bar Gown
from PART VI - Legal Antiquities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2014
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume I
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I The Legal Profession
- PART II The Inns of Court and Chancery
- PART III Legal Education
- PART IV Courts and Jurisdictions
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume II
- Contents
- PART V Legal Literature
- PART VI Legal Antiquities
- 44 Westminster Hall
- 45 English Judges' Robes 1350–2008
- 46 The Earliest Serjeants' Rings
- 47 The Judicial Collar of SS
- 48 The Mystery of the Bar Gown
- PART VII Public Law and Individual Status
- PART VIII Criminal Justice
- Collected Papers on English Legal History: Volume III
- Contents
- PART IX Private Law
- PART X General
- Bibliography of the Published Works of Sir John Baker
- Index
Summary
Legal folklore has always fascinated the public and the profession, and the hundred or so books which have been written about the inns of court and their customs include more than a few accounts of legal dress. None of the latter, however, are wholly accurate, being founded for the most part on speculation rather than evidence. In no respect is the imaginary quality of the recorded traditions of the law greater than in the story of the distinctive gown worn by junior barristers. The garment is not at first sight remarkable. It is a full gown of black stuff, pleated at the yoke like an academical gown, and with wide bell-shaped sleeves caught up over the elbow with three buttoned tapes. Sharp observers, and those who have spent some time in the courts, would also notice the curious appendage suspended over the back of the left shoulder by a long strip of stuff which hangs in front. The broader piece at the back has been likened to a fiddle sliced in half, or a cloven tongue, though these unsatisfactory descriptions serve chiefly to demonstrate that the shape is not easily expressed in words. An old tradition, dating at least from the end of the eighteenth century and still current at the Bar, is that it is a ‘wallet’ or ‘pouch’ into which a grateful client could slip the honorarium, unseen and without embarrassment.
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- Information
- Collected Papers on English Legal History , pp. 867 - 878Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013