The Evolution of Judicial Head Dress
The story of how the judiciary came to wear wigs begins at least as far back as 1635. The Judges’ Rules issued that year prescribed three layers of head-dress – a white lawn coif followed by a black skullcap and then a black cornered cap.
Almost 50 years later, this head-dress began to change. When Charles II returned from exile in France, he brought with him the French fashion of wig-wearing. With the keen fashion sense of the time and a fondness for the latest innovations, it wasn’t long before wigs became an essential fashion accessory for the well-to-do. In the 1680s, both the judiciary and the bar followed suit and as a result, the coif and the skull cap began to shrink in size until they were eventually abandoned. The indentation seen on the top of judicial wigs to this day is the last reminder of the existence of the coif. The black cornered cap was eventually only worn on formal occasions and by Victorian times, it had taken on darker overtones and was associated with the passing of a death sentence.
The wigs themselves also evolved over the years. Up until about 1770, judges strictly kept to wearing the full-bottomed wig. This began to change, as many judges took to wearing the short bob-wig for ordinary occasions in court. Eventually this became the ordinary wig for judges sitting in court, with the full-bottomed wig reserved for ceremonial occasions.
