Court dress comprises dress prescribed for courts of law.
Court dress in England and Wales
Where court dress is worn
Court dress is worn at hearings in open court in all courts of the Supreme Court of Judicature and in county courts. However, court dress may be dispensed with at the option of the judge, e.g. in very hot weather, and invariably where it may intimidate children, e.g. in the Family Division and at the trials of minors. In the House of Lords and in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council counsel wear court dress, but their Lordships are dressed in conventional business attire.
Court dress is not worn at hearings in chambers and in the magistrates' courts.
See Courts of England and Wales.
Advocates
English advocates (whether barristers or solicitors) who appear before a judge who is robed, or before the House of Lords or Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, must themselves be robed.
All male advocates wear a white stiff wing collar with bands (two strips of linen about 5" by 1" hanging down the front of the neck). They also wear either a dark suit (usually with waistcoat if single-breasted) or a black coat and waistcoat and grey pinstriped trousers. The black coat and waistcoat can be combined into a single garment, which is simply a waistcoat with sleeves, known as a bar jacket or court waistcoat. Female advocates also wear a dark suit, but often wear bands attached to a collarette rather than a wing collar.
Junior barristers
Junior barristers wear an open-fronted black gown with open sleeves, gathered and decorated with buttons and ribbons, and a gathered yoke, over a black or dark suit, hence the term stuffgownsman for juniors. In addition barristers wear a short horsehair wig with curls at the side and ties down the back.
Solicitors
Solicitors wear an open-fronted black gown similar to that worn by a QC save that the material used is the same as a junior barrister's gown over a black or dark suit and may wear a short horsehair wig with curls at the side and ties down the back.
Queen's Counsel
Barristers or solicitors who have been appointed Queen's Counsel, or QCs, wear a silk gown with a flap collar and long closed sleeves (the arm opening is half-way up the sleeve). The QC's black coat, known as a court coat, is cut like 18th-century court dress, and the sleeve of the QC's court coat or bar jacket has a turnback cuff with three buttons across.
On ceremonial occasions QCs wear ceremonial dress (see below).
Judges
Until 2008, judges in the Family and Chancery divisions of the courts wore the same black silk gown and court coat or bar jacket as QCs, as did judges in the Court of Appeal. All judges wore a short bench wig when working in criminal court, reserving the long wig for ceremonial occasions, and a wing collar and bands.
From autumn 2008, judges in all civil and family cases began to wear a newly designed robe with no wig, collar or bands, over an ordinary business suit and tie.
Judges in the highest courts, the House of Lords and the Privy Council, have never worn court dress at all (although advocates appearing before them do), as they are sitting respectively as legislators and Privy Counsellors. Instead they are dressed in ordinary business clothing.
It is in intermediate courts that try cases at first instance (with a jury in criminal cases) that court dress is the most complicated.
High Court judges
When dealing with first-instance criminal business in the winter, a High Court judge of the Queen's Bench Division wears a scarlet robe with fur facings, a black scarf and girdle (waistband) and a scarlet casting-hood or tippet. When dealing with criminal business in the summer, the judge wears a similar scarlet robe, but with silk rather than fur facings.
When he tries civil cases, until 2008 he wore in winter a black robe faced with fur, a black scarf and girdle and a scarlet tippet; in summer, a violet robe faced with silk, with the black scarf and girdle and scarlet tippet. However, from autumn 2008, in civil and family cases, the prescribed dress consisted only of a robe of modern design over ordinary business clothing, with no wig, collar or bands.
Circuit judges
A circuit judge (in the County courts or the Crown court) used to wear a violet robe with lilac facings. As well as a girdle, the judge wears a tippet (sash) over the left shoulder - lilac when dealing with civil business and red when dealing with crime. However, from autumn 2008 he retains this dress only in criminal cases (the Crown Court) and will wear only a robe with no wig in other cases.
Special occasions
On red letter days (which include the Sovereign's birthday and certain saints' days) all judges wear the scarlet robe for the appropriate season.
On special ceremonial occasions (such as the opening of the legal year) judges and QCs wear long wigs (hence the colloquial phrase "big wig"), black breeches and silk stockings, and wear lace jabots instead of bands. High court judges in addition have a scarlet and fur mantle, which is worn with his gold chain of office in the case of the Lord Chief Justice. The Lord Chancellor and judges of the Court of Appeal have black silk damask gowns heavily embellished with gold embroidery.
Reform
In July 2007 the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales announced the changes that will be made to court working dress in the English and Welsh courts. The reforms were due to take effect on the 1st January 2008. However, following reports of strong opposition to the proposed changes, they were put on hold . They took effect as of autumn 2008.
Judges in the civil and family courts no longer wear traditional dress; however, Circuit Judges continue to wear their current gown in the county court. The array of robes worn by High Court Judges has been abolished and replaced by a modernised and significantly simplified robe. The wearing of wigs in the civil and family courts has been completely abolished. High Court judges presiding over criminal trials in the Crown Court now appear in the robes they currently wear in the winter. No further changes are planned for the working dress of judges in the criminal courts, save possibly for the Divisional Court.
These changes will be reflected in the dress allowances made to judges. Furthermore, newly appointed Circuit Judges will no longer receive an allowance to buy full-bottomed wigs. Whilst the one-off cost of supplying the new civil gown is estimated at about £200,000, annual savings in the region of £300,000 are expected.
The Chairman of the Bar announced in April 2008 that, as a result of a survey of the profession, the Bar would recommend that advocates should retain their existing formal robes (including wigs) in all cases, civil and criminal, with possible exceptions in the County Court. In a letter to the profession, he said (in part):
New robes for judges were designed by Betty Jackson and unveiled in May 2008, although a survey of judges published in March 2009 revealed substantial opposition to the new designs, as well as widespread annoyance at the lack of consultation prior to the change.
Scotland
Scottish court dress is very similar to English court dress, but there are notable differences. For example, Scottish advocates wear tail coats under their gowns, and wear white bow ties instead of bands. QCs and judges wear long scarf-like ties (known as falls) instead of bands.
Scottish judicial robes are also very different from English ones.
Republic of Ireland
See also: Courts of the Republic of Ireland and Law of the Republic of IrelandJudiciary
The Irish Free State, established in 1922, continued largely with the courts and court system inherited from the United Kingdom, albeit pared down and shorn of some of its imperial grandeur. To fit with the reorganization of the courts and the asceticism of a new and impoverished state, the judiciary all but abandoned the wearing of their former ceremonial costumes. Prior to Independence, the Lord Chancellor, Master of the Rolls and the Lords Justice of Appeal in Ireland would have worn full ceremonial dress identical to their English equivalents, viz. long black damask robes with wide bands of gold lace and ornaments. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Chief Baron (up to the extinction of the office on the retirement of Christopher Palles in 1916) and other puisne judges of the High Court would likewise have worn scarlet robes with ermine hood and ermine-trimmed mantle. Many fine examples of these robes can be seen in portraits of Irish judges in the King's Inns.
Upon the passing of the Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) Act 1922, the office of Lord Chancellor immediately became defunct. Then in 1924 the Court of Appeal was refashioned into the Supreme Court; the Lord Chief Justice became simply Chief Justice and head of the judiciary; and the Master of the Rolls was replaced with a President of the High Court. The judges of the new superior courts, including the Chief Justice and President, adopted for all occasions - ceremonial or otherwise - the ordinary working judicial dress of the austere type previously worn by members of
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