Special Occasions

Court dress comprises dress prescribed for courts of law. more...

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This article deals primarily with dress worn in the courts of law of England and Wales and elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

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 suits.

Court dress is not worn at hearings in chambers and in the magistrates' courts.

See Courts of England and Wales.

Advocates

The Lord Chief Justice announced on July 12, 2007 that there would be significant changes to Court Dress from January 1, 2008. All advocates whether solicitor advocates or barristers would be permitted to wear wigs. However, following a consultation exercise which showed strong opposition in the profession, the Practice Direction implementing this reform has been put on hold.

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 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.

Junior barristers

Junior barristers wear an open-fronted black gown with open sleeves 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 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org