Courts of Justice and admired the Judges in their scarlet or other
bravery. One odd little detail may have caught your eye: a black patch
on the top differences the wig of the present (1898) Master of the
Rolls from those of his brethren. It signifies that the wearer is a
Serjeant-at-Law, and when he goes to return no more, with him will
probably vanish the Order of the Coif. Verily, it will be the “end
o’ an auld sang,” of a record stretching back to the beginning of
English jurisprudence, of an order whose passing had, at one time,
seemed as the passing of the law itself. Here in bare outline I set
forth its ancient and famous history. And, first, as to the name.
Under the feudal system land was held from the Crown upon various
tenures. Sometimes special services were required from the holders;
these were called Serjeants, and a tenure was said to be by Serjeanty.
Special services, though usually military, now and again had to do
with the administration of justice. A man enjoyed his plot because he
was coroner, keeper of the peace, summoner, or what not; and, over
and above the land, he had the fees of the office. A few offices,
chiefly legal, came to have no land attached--were only paid in fees.
Such a business was a Serjeanty in gross, or at large, as one might
say. Again, after the Conquest, whilst the records of our law courts
were in Latin, the spoken language was Norman-French--a fearful and
wondrous tongue that grew to be--“as ill an hearing in the mouth as
law-French,” says Milton scornfully--and indeed Babel had scarce
matched it. But from the first it must have been a sore vexation to
the thick-witted Saxon haled before the tribunal of his conquerors.
He needs must employ a _counter_, or man skilled in the _conter_, as
the pleadings were called. The business was a lucrative one, so the
Crown assumed the right of regulation and appointment. It was held for
a Serjeanty in gross, and its holders were _servientes regis ad legem_.
The word _regis_ was soon omitted except as regards those specially
retained for the royal service. The literal translation of the other
words is Serjeants-at-law, still the designation of the surviving
fellows of the order. The Serjeant-at-law was appointed, or, in form at
least, commanded to take office by writ under the Great Seal. He was
courteously addressed as “you,” whilst the sheriff was commonly plain
“thou” or “thee.” The King’s or Queen’s Serjeants were appointed by
letters patent; and though this official is extinct as the dodo, he is
mentioned after the Queen’s Attorney-General as the public prosecutor
in the proclamation still mumbled at the opening of courts like the Old
Bailey.
Now, in the early Norman period the _aula regis_, or Supreme Court,
was simply the King acting as judge with the assistance of his great
officers of state. In time there developed therefrom among much else
the three old common law courts; whereof the Common Pleas settled the
disputes of subjects, the King’s Bench, suits concerning the King
and the realm, the Exchequer, revenue matters. Though the last two
by means of quaint fictions afterwards acquired a share of private
litigation, yet such was more properly for the Court of Common Pleas.
It was peculiarly the Serjeants’ court, and for many centuries, up to
fifty years ago, they had the exclusive right of audience. Until the
Judicature Acts they were the body of men next to the judges, each
being addressed from the bench as “Brother,” and from them the judges
must be chosen, also until 1850 the assizes must be held before a judge
or a Serjeant of the coif.
A clause in Magna Charta provided that the Common Pleas should not
follow the King’s wanderings, but sit in a fixed place; this fixed
place came to be near the great door of the Hall at Westminster. With
the wind in the north the spot was cold and draughty, so after the
Restoration some daring innovator proposed “to let it (the Court) in
through the wall into a back room which they called the treasury.” Sir
Orlando Bridgeman, the Chief Justice, would on no account hear of this.
To move it an inch were flagrant violation of Magna Charta. Might not,
he darkly hinted, all its writs be thus rendered null and void? Was
legal pedantry ever carried further? In a later age the change was made
without comment, and in our own time the Common Pleas itself has gone
to the Lumber Room. No doubt this early localising of the court helped
to develop a special Bar. Other species of practitioners--barristers,
attorneys, solicitors--in time arose, and the appointment of Queen’s
Counsel, of whom Lord Bacon was the earliest, struck the first real
blow at the Order of the Coif; but the detail of such things is not
for this page. In later days every Serjeant was a more fully developed
barrister, and then and now, as is well known, every barrister must
belong to one of the four Inns of Court--the two Temples, Gray’s Inn,
and Lincoln’s Inn to wit, whose history cannot be told here; suffice
it to say they were voluntary associations of lawyers, which gradually
acquired the right of calling to the Bar those who wished to practise.
Now, the method of appointment of Serjeants was as follows: The judges,
headed by the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, picked out certain
eminent barristers as worthy of the dignity, their names were given in
to the Lord Chancellor, and in due time each had his writ, whereof he
formally gave his Inn notice. His House entertained him at a public
breakfast, presented him with a gold or silver net purse with ten
guineas or so as a retaining fee, the chapel bell was tolled, and he
was solemnly rung out of the bounds. On the day of his call he was
harangued (often at preposterous length) by the Chief Justice of the
King’s Bench, he knelt down, and the white coif of the order was fitted
on his head; he went in procession to Westminster and “counted” in
a real action in the Court of Common Pleas. For centuries he did so
in law-French. Lord Hardwicke was the first Serjeant who “counted” in
English. The new-comer was admitted a member of Serjeants’ Inn, in
Chancery Lane, in ancient times called Farringdon Inn, whereof all
the members were Serjeants. Here they dined together on the first
and last days of term; their clerks also dined in hall, though at a
separate table--a survival, no doubt, from the days when the retainer
feasted, albeit “below the salt,” with his master. Dinner done and
the napery removed, the board of green cloth was constituted, and
under the presidency of the Chief Judge the business of the House was
transacted. There was a second Serjeants’ Inn in Fleet Street, but in
1758 its members joined the older institution in Chancery Lane. When
the Judicature Acts practically abolished the order, the Inn was sold
and its property divided among the members, a scandalous proceeding and
poor result of “the wisdom of an heep of lernede men”!
The Serjeant’s feast on his appointment was a magnificent affair,
_instar coronationis_, as Fortescue has it. In old times it lasted
seven days; one of the largest palaces in the metropolis was selected,
and kings and queens graced its quaint ceremonial. Stow chronicles one
such celebration at the call of eleven Serjeants, in 1531. There were
consumed “twenty-four great beefes, one hundred fat muttons, fifty-one
great veales, thirty-four porkes,” not to mention the swans, the
larkes, the “capons of Kent,” the “carcase of an ox from the shambles,”
and so forth. One fancies these solids were washed down by potations
proportionately long and deep. And there were other attractions and
other expenses. At the feast in October 1552, “a standing dish of wax
representing the Court of Common Pleas” was the admiration of the
guests; again, a year or two later, it is noted that each Serjeant was
attended by three gentlemen selected by him from among the members of
his own Inn to act as his sewer, his carver, and his cup-bearer. These
Gargantuan banquets must have proved a sore burden: they were cut down
to one day, and, on the union of the Inns in 1758, given up as unsuited
to the newer times.
One expense remained. Serjeants on their call must give gold rings to
the Sovereign, the Lord Chancellor, the judges, and many others. From
about the time of Elizabeth mottoes or “posies” were engraved thereon.
Sometimes each Serjeant had his own device, more commonly the whole
call adopted the same motto, which was usually a compliment to the
reigning monarch or an allusion to some public event. Thus, after the
Restoration the words ran: _Adeste Corolus Magnus_. With a good deal
of elision and twisting the Roman numerals for 1660 were extracted
from this, to the huge delight of the learned triflers. _Imperium et
libertas_ was the word for 1700, and _plus quam speravimus_ that of
1714, which was as neat as any. The rings were presented to the judges
by the Serjeant’s “colt,” as the barrister attendant on him through
the ceremony was called (probably from _colt_, an apprentice); he also
had a ring. In the ninth of Geo. II. the fourteen new Serjeants gave,
as of duty, 1409 rings, valued at £773. That call cost each Serjeant
nearly £200. This ring-giving continued to the end; another custom,
that of giving liveries to relatives and friends, was discontinued in
1759. In mediæval times the new Serjeants went in procession to St.
Paul’s, and worshipped at the shrine of Thomas à Becket; then to each
was allotted a pillar, so that his clients might know where to find
him. The Reformation put a summary end to the worship of St. Thomas,
but the formality of the pillar lingered on till Old St. Paul’s and Old
London blazed in the Great Fire of 1666.
The mediæval lawyer lives for us to-day in Chaucer’s famous picture:
A Sergeant of Lawe, war and wys,
That often hadde ben atte parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.
Discret he was, and of great reverence:
He semede such, his wordes weren so wise,
Justice he was ful often in assise,
By patente, and by pleyn commissioun;
For his science, and for his heih renoun,
Of fees and robes hadde he many oon.
So gret a purchasour was nowher noon.
Al was fee symple to him in effecte,
His purchasyng mighte nought ben enfecte.
Nowher so besy a man as he ther nas,
And yit he seemede besier than he was.
In termes hadde he caas and domes alle;
That fro the tyme of kyng William were falle.
Therto he couthe endite, and make a thing,
Ther couthe no wight pynche at his writyng;
And every statute couthe he pleyn by roote.
He rood but hoomly in a medlé coote,
Gird with a seynt of silk, with barres smale
Of his array telle I no lenger tale.
How lifelike that touch of the fussy man, who “seemede besier than he
was”! But each line might serve as text for a long dissertation! The
old court hours were early: the judges sat from eight till eleven,
when your busy Serjeant would, after bolting his dinner, hie him to
his pillar where he would hear his client’s story, “and take notes
thereof upon his knee.” The parvys or pervyse of Paul’s--properly, only
the church door--had come to mean the nave of the cathedral, called
also “Paul’s Walk,” or “Duke Humphrey’s Walk,” from the supposed tomb
of Duke Humphrey that stood there. In Tudor times it was the great
lounge and common newsroom of London. Here the needy adventurer “dined
with Duke Humphrey,” as the quaint euphemism ran; here spies garnered
in popular opinion for the authorities. It was the very place for the
lawyer to meet his client, yet had he other resorts: the round of the
Temple Church and Westminster are noted as in use for consultations.
Chaucer’s Serjeant “rood but hoomly” because he was travelling; in
court he had a long priest-like robe, with a furred cape about his
shoulders and a scarlet hood. The gowns were various, and sometimes
parti-coloured. Thus, in 1555 we find each new Serjeant possessed
of one robe of scarlet, one of violet, one of brown and blue, one
of mustard and murrey, with tabards (short sleeveless coats) of
cloths of the same colours. The cape was edged, first with lambskin,
afterwards with more precious stuff. In Langland’s _Vision of Piers
Plowman_ (1362) there is mention of this dress of the Serjeants, they
are jibed at for their love of fees and so forth, after a fashion
that is not yet extinct! But _the_ distinctive feature in the dress
was the coif, a close-fitting head covering made of white lawn or
silk. A badge of honour, it was worn on all professional occasions,
nor was it doffed even in the King’s presence. In monumental effigies
it is ever prominent. When a Serjeant resigned his dignity he was
formally discharged from the obligation of wearing it. To discuss its
exact origin were fruitless, yet one ingenious if mistaken conjecture
may be noticed. Our first lawyers were churchmen, but in 1217 these
were finally debarred from general practice in the courts. Many were
unwilling to abandon so lucrative a calling, but what about the
tonsure? “They were for decency and comeliness allowed to cover their
bald pates with a coif, which had been ever since retained.” Thus
the learned Serjeant Wynne in his tract on the antiquity and dignity
of the order (1765). In Tudor times, if not before, fashion required
the Serjeant to wear a small skull-cap of black silk or velvet on the
top of the coif. This is very clearly shown in one of Lord Coke’s
portraits. Under Charles II. lawyers, like other folk, began to wear
wigs, the more exalted they were the bigger their perukes. It was
wittily said that Bench and Bar went into mourning on Queen Anne’s
death, and so remained, since their present dress is that then adopted.
Serjeants were unwilling to lose sight of their coifs altogether,
and it was suggested on the wig by a round patch of black and white,
representing the white coif and the cap which had covered it. The limp
cap of black cloth known as the “black cap” which the judge assumes
when about to pass sentence of death was, it seems, put on to veil the
coif, and as a sign of sorrow. It was also carried in the hand when
attending divine service, and was possibly assumed in pre-Reformation
times when prayers were said for the dead.
A few words will tell of the fall of the order. As far back as 1755
Sir John Willis, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, proposed to throw
open that court as well as the office of judge to barristers who were
not Serjeants, but the suggestion came to nothing. In 1834, the Bill
for the establishment of a Central Criminal Court contained a clause
to open the Common Pleas; this was dropped, but the same object was
attained by a royal warrant, April 25, 1834. The legality of this was
soon questioned and, after solemn argument before the Privy Council,
it was declared invalid. In 1846 a statute (the 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54)
to the same effect settled the matter, and the Judicature Act of 1873
provided that no judge need in future be a Serjeant. On the dissolution
of Serjeants’ Inn its members were received back into the Houses whence
they had come.
As for centuries all the judges were Serjeants, the history of the
order is that of the Bench and Bar of England; yet some famous men
rose no higher, or for one reason or other became representative
members. Such a one was Sir John Maynard (1602-1690). In his last
years William III. commented on his venerable appearance: “He must
have outlived all the lawyers of his time.” “If your Highness had not
come I should have outlived the law itself,” was the old man’s happy
compliment. Pleading in Chancery one day, he remarked that he had
been counsel in the same case half a century before, he had steered a
middle course in those troubled times, but he had ever leant to the
side of freedom against King and Protector alike. His share in the
impeachment of Strafford procured him a jibe in Butler’s _Hudibras_,
yet it was said that all parties seemed willing to employ him, and
that he seemed willing to be employed by all. Jeffreys, who usually
deferred to him, once blustered out, “You are so old as to forget
your law, Brother Maynard.” “True, Sir George, I have forgotton more
law than ever you knew,” was the crushing retort. Macaulay has justly
praised his conduct at the Revolution for that he urged his party
to disregard legal technicalities and adopt new methods for new and
unheard-of circumstances. Edmund Plowden (1518-1585) deserves at least
equally high praise. He was so determined a student that “for three
years he went not once out of the Temple.” He is said to have refused
the Chancellorship offered him by Elizabeth as he would not desert
the old faith. He was attacked again and again for nonconformity,
but his profound knowledge of legal technicalities enabled him on
each occasion to escape the net spread for him. He was an Englishman
loyal to the core, and Catholic as he was opposed in 1555 the violent
proceedings of Queen Mary’s Parliament. The Attorney-General filed a
bill against him for contempt, but “Mr. Plowden traversed fully, and
the matter was never decided.” “A traverse full of pregnancy,” is Lord
Coke’s enthusiastic comment. On his death in 1584 they buried him in
that Temple Church whose soil must have seemed twice sacred to this
oracle of the law. An alabaster monument whereon his effigy reposes
remains to this day. A less distinguished contemporary was William
Bendloes (1516-1584), “Old Bendloes,” men called him. A quaint legend
reports him the only Serjeant at the Common Pleas bar in the first
year of Elizabeth’s reign. Whether there was no business, or merely
half-guinea motions of course, or the one man argued on both sides, or
whether the whole story be a fabrication, ’tis scarce worth while to
inquire.
I pass to more modern times. William Davy was made Serjeant-at-law in
1754. His wit combats with Lord Mansfield are still remembered. His
lordship was credited with a desire to sit on Good Friday; our Serjeant
hinted that he would be the first judge that had done so since Pontius
Pilate! Mansfield scouted one of Davy’s legal propositions. “If that be
law I must burn all my books.” “Better read them first,” was the quiet
retort. In recent days two of the best known Serjeants were Parry and
Ballantine, the first a profound lawyer, the second a great advocate,
but both are vanished from the scene.
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
London & Edinburgh
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Superscripted text is preceded with a carat character: behav^d.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been
standardized.