Short Stuff: Wigs in English Court

say that out loud? Like you see them outside? There's pictures smoking a cigarette on their on their smartphone wearing these wigs, right playing. Um, before we get started, a Chuck, I want to differentiate between a barrister and a solicitor, which I did not know until today actually in difference. Yeah, I thought maybe one was like a defensive ernie and one was a prosecutor like we have here in the US. Um,

that's not the case. A solicitor is like the lawyer that you go meet with outside of court, uh and maybe advises you on family and children matters, or bankruptcy or divorce or something like that, and then they might negotiate contracts that kind of thing. But then when you're in court, you're represented by a barrister, and the barrister works with the solicitor to understand your case. But it's

the barrister who's petitioning the court on your behalf. So they're both working like for the people, they're not prosecuting somebody. But that's the difference. One of the other differences, at least one of the most obvious and apparent differences between a barrister and a solicitor is that you don't see solicitors wearing wigs. You do see barristers wearing wigs. So that's a short stuff within a short stuff, the difference between barristers and solicitors everybody. That's just an s s.

It's so short. So to the wigs, there are a lot of reasons are called Peruke's um that over the years, and we'll get to the whole fashion of the whigs in a minute too, but uh, there are several reasons why they wore them to begin with him. While they still might wear them in certain cases. Um one of the main reasons is to give it a more formal proceeding, um, a more solemn proceeding. Another big reason is it's a safeguard almost like and that I've seen the word disguise used.

It's very bad disguise because it's just the wig. Oh yeah, I hadn't noticed that. But in the in criminal court, they it's supposedly lends to anonymity, these robes and wigs. So where if this criminal sees their attorney on the street six months later, they might be like, I don't even recognize the guy. He looks familiar, but if only he had a powdered wig on, I might be able to knife them in the tube. Can't quite place him.

So uh, that is sort of what they represent. And um, they have been a part of the court system over there, um not forever, but since what year? Uh, since six five at least. Yeah, previously that they didn't use these wigs, which is interesting. It is interesting because at the time wigs were already all the rage in Europe and had been for a few years. But I guess the court system was like, no, we're going to not take part

in this ridiculous fashion trend. And I guess just portraits from the early sixteen eighties even um just showed like people without wigs on, and then all of a sudden, bam, wigs start showing up in the portraits. And they've been there ever since, even long after wiggs fell out of fashion.

I mean wiggs were only fashionable for less than a hundred years, actually far less than a hundred years, No, about a hundred years, let's say, And then and then they were gone, and the British court system wherever it popped up around the world, um hung onto these wigs for another like two hundred, three hundred years. Yeah, and there you know, as far as the whigs themselves, uh, you can get a little bit of variety, but it's not like you can walk in there with your rainbow

afro wig, um, John. They're generally similar barristers have you know, it's a little little frizzed at the top. They have the horizontal curls on the side and the back and then the very very back the mullet section. You have these two long strips um below the hairline with a little looped curl. The the judges themselves have the much more ornate wigs that's more full, um very long, yeah, super long. These are the one you know. That's how

you can tell the difference. When you see the the dude with a big, huge, full long wig, that's a judge. When you see the little little one sitting on top, standing outside the court house with your smartphone and your cigarette, that's a barrister and the judge. His wig looks very very much like a seventies rocker hair. Do if you step back and look at it? Yeah, like really, I'm trying to think of who, like maybe like a tour

manager for led Zeppelin or something like that. All right, maybe, although he famously did not have long hair, but sure who Phil Graham? He was ball on top? Was that his name? He was the promoter? Okay? Phil Graham was alright, well man. He used to stick people up. He would say, like, if if you don't give us an extra hundred thousand dollars, uh, my boys aren't going on stage, like five minutes before they were supposed to go on. He was pretty legendary piece of work. So as far as the wigs, oh

they're expensive. Um. Judges can throw down about three grand on a wig. Um. The barristers may spend anywhere from five hundred to a thousand. These are dollars, not pounds. Yeah, yeah, and uh, they're made of horsehair. UM. Traditionally have always been made of horse hair if you can afford it. Um, just because of tradition. It's not like horse hair is some super valuable thing, but some have been made through other things like goats hair or just cotton, or maybe

a dead human or or even a live human. Uh. At the time, back in the day, humans would donate their long white hair kind of like locks of love. But rather than you know, for people who have survived cancer, it's for the courts. And rather than for love, it's for money. So it doesn't really bear that much of a resemblance although hair was involved. But the the horse hair, it's like you said, it's not prize. It's this tradition. That's what they were made out of originally, and that's

why they continue to be made out of. UM. But that's not to say they're just like thrown together. These are UM remarkably well made where they're supposed to be. For for a very long time, they were very well made, UM artisan crafted wigs. All right, let's take a break. We're gonna come back and talk a little bit more about the history of these wigs, and while on Earth they're still wearing them right after this as why skol

definite should ski all right, So the history of wigs here. Uh, it may surprise you to know that a big reason these wigs started to be worn is because syphilis was rampant. Yeah, it seems like everybody had syphilis. Yeah. And one of the things that could happen when you have syphilis, aside from blindness and rashes and dementia and open source as

you can lose your hair. So what it maybe unfairly because male pattern baldness is a thing anyway, if you lost your hair and you're a prominent person, but a lot of people probably looked at you and said, well he got syphilis. Yeah. Plus, at the time, long hair on men was very much in fast and that does not go well with syphilis if you're if you're balding.

So wiggs came into play, and they might not have come into play as strongly as they did had it not been for Louis the fourteenth, the King of France, the same king who um they believe had syphilis, and he started wearing wigs himself. He reigned from sixteen forty three to seventeen fifteen, and he was a huge trend setter.

So when he started wearing these powdered wigs, everybody started wearing powdered wigs, and not just in France and not just among his court, but in courts and the aristocracy and the upper classes of all of Europe, including in England, which was rained by Charles the Second at the time, who was the cousin of Louis the fourteenth. And also maybe he had syphilis. Yeah, syphilis. Everywhere you get syphilis, you get syphilis, you agains hyphilis. Uh. And like you said,

it spread through all of aristocracy. Um, finally it fell out of fashion over time. Um that like you said, well, yeah, didn't take that long for the whigs to fall out of fashion, would you say, less than a hundred years. Yeah.

By by the time King George the Third, who was presiding over England during the American Revolution, when he was in charge, it was really just basically, um, Coachman, bishops, and I believe the court and in the eighteen thirties the church or the Anglican Church that bishops don't need to wear those anymore. I don't know when Coachman stopped wearing them, but then like we're with the bishops, right, then the courts are um. They just kept it up

from that point on. Yeah. So finally in two thousand seven there was a court challenge, UM, an actual like suit brought forward to say can we not wear these wigs anymore? And there was a ruling that said, uh that that technically did away with barrister whigs, but entirely because that was only in civil court um or appearing before the Supreme Court. But in criminal cases they were like, keep those wigs on everybody, and I believe they still do, right. Yeah,

that's what I couldn't quite figure out. Like I read like in this article it says until two thousand eleven when the practice was discontinued, Well that was with judges. Oh okay, alright, that makes more sense now, barristers in two thousand seven, judges in two thousand and eleven. But I believe that in criminal cases both barristers and judges are still required to wear wigs or else it's a

real affront to the decorum of the court. Yeah. Like I was reading articles from last year that talked about the fact that they were still trying to get it not mandatory for criminal cases, but I think they are still wearing them and it had a sweeping effect, like everyone around the world that had that worked in the legal system of a country that was a former British colony, whether in Africa, whether also Astralia, whether Canada, or just waiting.

Actually I think Canada did away with him before, but it's like they were just waiting to pull these wigs off. Um, Jamaica got rid of their's in two thousand thirteen, Australia got rid of their's finally in two thousand ten. So whatever lawsuit that was in two thousand seven, that had sweet, like literally global effects. Yeah. I mean one of the articles I read talked about in England the heat they're

in the summertime heat. Yeah, in the summertime, these rogues and these wigs, they were like that, it's just like it's a problem and they just should just file a petition or whatever. That just says to whom it may concern, Come on, this is ridiculous. It's two thousand nineteen the end. Yeah, we look silly. Yeah, although in Hong Kong they they are still with it from what I understand. So if you want to go see your lawyers and your judges wearing traditional wigs. Go to Hong Kong. I think it's

the upshode of the shorts. Yeah, go commit a crime in Hong Kong. There you go. Um, thanks a lot for joining us. If you want to get in touch with the shoot us an email, why don't you send it off to Stuff Podcast at how stuff works dot com