Why do judges always wear that curly wig at trial?

It is one of the most distinctive traditions of English courts that judges and lawyers wear wigs in court. In some former British colonies deeply influenced by the British judicial system, we can also see this cultural imprint with British characteristics, such as the China Special Administrative Region.

Why do British judges and lawyers wear wigs? Many people who study history have put forward various explanations, but it is difficult to convince everyone.

Some people say that in the Middle Ages, overwork and illness made judicial personnel lose all their hair prematurely. In order to hide their "cleverness" in public, wigs became popular and became a scene of the British court.

Some people say that judges wear wigs to show respect, and lawyers wear wigs to cover up and protect them to some extent, because they are worried that their defense results will not be recognized by the defendants and their families. But this is not so much a reasonable explanation as a joke made up by people who have problems with lawyers to discredit them. Because according to a recent survey, 57% lawyers are not satisfied with wearing wigs and want to take them off. The reason is that these wig made of horse hair are expensive but unsanitary. Generally, a wig will last a lifetime. A lawyer's family has a 94-year-old antique, which has been handed down for four generations and can be called a family heirloom.

According to the research of historians and folklorists, the fashion tradition of wearing wigs in Britain began in 12 century. At that time, it was not just the patent of judges and lawyers. People in the upper class regard wearing wigs as a fashion and a formal dress for formal occasions or salons.

Experts pointed out that wigs used by judicial organs are different from ordinary wigs. In England, there are three curls on each side of the judicial wig, but there are only two in the royal family. Whether this represents a subtle metaphorical meaning is unknown. But Scots always quarrel with English people, because in Scotland, the situation is just the opposite, the royal family uses three curly wigs, and the judicial personnel only have two curly wigs.

The production cost of wigs lies in labor rather than materials, because it is not difficult to obtain horse hair, and the production of wigs is a delicate work, so it is impossible to mass-produce them by machines or production lines.

A skilled craftsman needs about 44 working hours to produce a wig, including weaving and rolling. The finished products generally have four colors: white, golden yellow, light gray and gray. In some old British colonies, such as West Africa and the Caribbean, white is very popular, while in Britain, gold and gray are the most popular.

Generally, a judge's wig costs more than 1500 pounds (equivalent to about RMB 18000, wow, it's not cheap), and the most common wig is not less than 300 pounds.

Most people would rather put up with lice than change wigs as often as a lady changes her hat. The reason is not that they are unwilling to buy more wigs. It is based on the saying that the longer you wear a wig, the dirtier and darker it becomes, which means the longer you eat legal food. In the judicial field, seniority and age are a treasure, just like old doctors in hospitals are the most popular. In a sense, the older the wig is, the more old-fashioned it is for lawyers to solicit business. The judge's antique wig is a signboard with rich trial experience.

After a law student is qualified as a lawyer, the best gift from his family or friends is a wig made by a famous artist. Many craftsmen who make wigs are passed down from their parents' generation, even from their families. Their history of making wigs is even longer than that of some British nobles.

Customizing wigs is also a patient process, because many famous craftsmen are hired several years later. Even if you can customize them immediately, your skull needs to be measured with a ruler at least 12 times during the production process. This is not a requirement that craftsmen deliberately toss you, but a requirement of exquisite craftsmanship.

Of course, you can also buy a ready-made one, but after all, it's better to kiss your smart head gently, not to mention that buying a wig casually is as rude as wearing jeans to a solemn banquet in the eyes of many legal persons. The British are famous for their conservative spirit, especially in the judicial field. Justice requires accuracy and even rigidity, emphasizes stability and balance, and is not compatible with personalized things.

Many wig makers' families keep a record of every wig sold, and the buyers are required to sign the record. Hundreds of years later, many famous people's autographs can be found in these records, because many famous politicians mostly worked as lawyers before they became famous.

The storage of wigs is also a meticulous work. Generally, each wig is equipped with a ventilated iron box or wooden box, and some boxes are even another independent work of art, which is far more valuable than the wig itself. At the earliest time, in the days when lice often grew on British people's heads, wigs were sprinkled with some powder to prevent lice when stored.

The last question related to China is: for a long time, most of the raw materials used in wigs came from China, which was also an important trade item except tea in Sino-British trade before the Opium War, because the mane of European horses was not easy to weave and easily broken, and it needed to be bleached and cleaned constantly in the production process, and only the mane produced by China horses could stand all kinds of tests.

When it comes to British judges or lawyers, gray wigs will naturally come to mind. For people outside the Commonwealth legal tradition, although wigs have become the hallmark of Commonwealth legal persons, this kind of dressing will not produce solemn prestige. On the contrary, it is often a strange feeling, which makes viewers sweat for them from time to time and worry that they will slip away with the elegant bow of the barrister and make a fool of themselves in court. Thomas, the third president of the United States? Jefferson once said, "(the British judge) is like a mouse peeking under cotton wool." The instrument also scared a child to cry when he testified in court, which led to the complete abolition of wigs by the special court specializing in juvenile cases in Britain.

Wigs have a long history and are recorded in the documents of ancient Egypt and Roman Empire. However, the popularity of European upper-class society is generally considered to be around 1620. Louis XIII wore a wig to cover up his baldness, which caused the nobles who frequented the court to follow suit, and then became popular in Europe, so that even women wore various wigs to attend social occasions. In the 1960s, this fashion was spread to the British Isles by King charles ii. /kloc-The diary of samuel pepys, an Englishman in the 7th century, truly recorded the history of wig popularity in Britain. 1663165438+10 On February 2nd, pepys learned the rumor that both the king and the duke would wear wigs, so he couldn't wait to shave his hair the next day and decided to make wigs. Pepys wrote, "It's still a little sad to say goodbye to my hair, but when it's over, I'll wear a wig." . It can be seen that the popularity of wigs in Britain has played a great role in setting an example.

Wigs are popular for another reason besides role models. According to ed and la Fenske love factory (ede&; Ravenscroft) introduced that because there was no heating system in Europe in the17th century, it was inconvenient for people to take a hot bath. In order to prevent parasites from breeding, the best way is to keep short hair and put on long hair.

Early wigs were made of human hair, such as debtor's hair to pay off debts, or even the hair of the dead. At that time, in court, the smell of all kinds of wigs was so suffocating that judges sometimes had to bring a bunch of flowers to solve it. This situation continued until 1822 Humphrey? Humphrey Ravenscroft invented the process of making wigs with ponytails.

Commonwealth lawyers wear wigs when they appear in court or attend major ceremonies, because it was popular at that time, and there was no mandatory legal requirement. Hundreds of years later, wigs are no longer fashionable, but they have become the old-fashioned image of legal persons following the tradition. Moreover, wigs are unsanitary, too hot, stinging and even ridiculous. However, it is hard to say change. People habitually associate wigs with status, identity and even justice. After lawyers were granted the right to appear in court, they failed to negotiate with the House of Lords many times because they were not qualified to wear wigs. Many defendants also preferred barristers who could wear wigs to defend them. It is said that wearing a wig is directly related to the ability to convince the jury!

Although charles ii's time has long passed, it seems that the original fashion-at least on wigs-still extends its hand from the grave, firmly binding contemporary Commonwealth jurists. In 1970s, in order to comply with the trend of reducing forms and promoting harmony in family courts, wigs were abolished in Australia. But when it arrived at 1987, it was said that the wig was restored because of repeated attacks on judicial personnel. The author believes that this practice in Australia is more out of traditional psychology, or that traditionalists just talk about these attacks in order to keep wigs on their heads. It is absolutely impossible to say that it is the right medicine. Because in Britain, the practice of wearing wigs for judicial personnel of juvenile special courts did not seem to have similar consequences to those in Australia after 1992 was abolished. In 2003, Britain conducted another survey on whether to abolish wigs, and found that most senior judges and barristers wanted to abolish wigs, while junior judges and barristers insisted on tradition. More than 68% of the public want judges to wear wigs, especially in criminal cases, which shows that wigs are still a strong symbol of justice in Britain.

Controversy is controversial, and wigs don't seem to disappear in federal courts anytime soon. Lord Donaldson summed up the debate in one sentence, "Since wigs have been out of date for at least a century, there is no need to cancel them in a hurry."

Justice needs to be manifested through rituals. It is through this vivid and concrete symbolic image and strong psychological suggestion that wigs arouse people's belief in law and hope for justice. However, there is no shortcut to construct modern judicial culture and even legal culture. The German school of historical law, represented by savigny, believes that the people themselves are slowly promoting the maturity of the law, and the law can't play any other role except recognizing this historical achievement. Historical jurisprudence is no longer the mainstream, but historical accumulation is indispensable in legal phenomena. China's robe is dead, right? At least at the local level, the phenomenon of appearing in court wearing a lawyer's robe this year can be said to be rare, which may be the inevitable result. The initial decision was more about the situation than about historical and cultural factors. The author thinks that it is power that makes the wig on the head of Commonwealth jurists linger, and makes China's lawyer robe leave quickly and disappear into the tunnel of history.