DOI article:
Watt, Francis: The Serjeant-at-law
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26393#0256
252 The Serjeant-at-Law
covering made of white lawn or silk. A badge of honour, it was
worn on all professional occasions, nor was it doffed even in the
king’s presence. In monumentnl effigies it is ever clearly shown.
When a serjeant resigned his dignity he was formally discharged
from the obligation of wearing it. To discuss its exact origin
were fruitless, yet one ingenious if mistaken conjecture may be
noticed. Our first lawyers were churchmen, but in 1217 these
were finally debarred from general practice in the courts. Many
were unwilling to abandon so lucrative a calling, but what about
the tonsure ? “They were for decency and comeliness allowed
to cover their bald pates with a coif, which has been ever since
retained.” Thus the learned Serjeant Wynne in his tract on the
antiquity and dignity of the order (1765). In Tudor times, if
not before, fashion required the serjeant to wear a small skull-cap
of black silk or velvet on the top of the coif. This is very clearly
shown in one of Lord Coke’s portraits. Under Charles II.
lawyers, like other folk, began to wear wigs, the higher they were
the bigger their perukes. It was wittily said that bench and bar
went into mourning on Queen Anne’s death, and so remained,
since their present dress is that then adopted. Serjeants were un-
willing to lose sight of their coifs altogether, and it was suggested
on the wig by a round patch of black and white, representing the
white coif and the cap which had covered it. The limp cap of
black cloth known as the “black cap” which the judge assumes
when about to pass sentence of death was, it seems, put on to veil
the coif, and as a sign of sorrow. It was also carried in the hand
when attending divine service, and was possibly assumed in pre-
Reformation times when prayers were said for the dead.
A few words will tell of the fall of the order. As far back as
1755 Sir John Willis, chief justice of the Common Pleas, pro-
posed to throw open that Court as well as the office of judge to
barristers
covering made of white lawn or silk. A badge of honour, it was
worn on all professional occasions, nor was it doffed even in the
king’s presence. In monumentnl effigies it is ever clearly shown.
When a serjeant resigned his dignity he was formally discharged
from the obligation of wearing it. To discuss its exact origin
were fruitless, yet one ingenious if mistaken conjecture may be
noticed. Our first lawyers were churchmen, but in 1217 these
were finally debarred from general practice in the courts. Many
were unwilling to abandon so lucrative a calling, but what about
the tonsure ? “They were for decency and comeliness allowed
to cover their bald pates with a coif, which has been ever since
retained.” Thus the learned Serjeant Wynne in his tract on the
antiquity and dignity of the order (1765). In Tudor times, if
not before, fashion required the serjeant to wear a small skull-cap
of black silk or velvet on the top of the coif. This is very clearly
shown in one of Lord Coke’s portraits. Under Charles II.
lawyers, like other folk, began to wear wigs, the higher they were
the bigger their perukes. It was wittily said that bench and bar
went into mourning on Queen Anne’s death, and so remained,
since their present dress is that then adopted. Serjeants were un-
willing to lose sight of their coifs altogether, and it was suggested
on the wig by a round patch of black and white, representing the
white coif and the cap which had covered it. The limp cap of
black cloth known as the “black cap” which the judge assumes
when about to pass sentence of death was, it seems, put on to veil
the coif, and as a sign of sorrow. It was also carried in the hand
when attending divine service, and was possibly assumed in pre-
Reformation times when prayers were said for the dead.
A few words will tell of the fall of the order. As far back as
1755 Sir John Willis, chief justice of the Common Pleas, pro-
posed to throw open that Court as well as the office of judge to
barristers