Court Dress

Court dress comprises the style of clothes prescribed for courts of law, and for royal courts.

Members of the old Judicial Committee of the House of Lords (or "Law Lords") and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council never wore court dress (although advocates appearing before them did). Instead they were dressed in ordinary business clothing. Since the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009, the Justices of that Court have retained the Law Lords' tradition of sitting unrobed. On ceremonial occasions they wear a robe of black silk damask embellished with gold with the logotype of the Supreme Court embroidered at the yoke.

Court dress is worn at hearings in open court in all Senior Courts of England and Wales 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.

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

In July 2007, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales announced that changes would be made to court working dress in the English and Welsh courts. The reforms were due to take effect on 1 January 2008; however, following reports of strong opposition to the proposed changes, they were put on hold, eventually taking effect in autumn 2008. The 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.

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):

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