Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1899 — English Judges’ Black Cap. [ARTICLE]

English Judges’ Black Cap.

There is one particular part of the dress belonging to the order of the coif —the black cap—which the judges in England always put over their wigs when passing sentence of death. Little is known concerning this black cap, and many mistakes have been made about it. Sergeant Pulling, in his work, “The Order of the Coif,” says: “The black cap, or sentence cap, of the judges and sergeants Is certainly not the coif, as Lord Campbell repeatedly statfes. It is, on the contrary, the covering expressly assigned to veil the coif on the only occasion when the coif is required to be hidden. By the ancient privileges of the sergeants the coif was not to be taken off, even in the royal presence. The chief insignia of the order was to be so displayed when sitting on the bench or pleading at the bar, but this rule seems always to have been departed from In passing sentence of death. “The head of the administrator of Justice was then covered, as a token of sorrow, by the black sentence cap. This cornered cap, black cap, or sentence cap, as It Is sometimes termed, is a piece of limp black cloth, which Is put on top of the wig. The cap is rarely put on except when a prisoner has been convicted of murder, and then the Judge places the cap on the top of his wig and passes sentence of death.” When the judges sit in the criminal courts and when attending church in state, they always carry the black cap in their hands as a part of their regular judicial attire. The black cap Is also worn by the judges on the day when the new Lord Mayor goes in state to the royal courts of justice to be sworn In—Gentleman’s Magazine.