c/til · by Don_Dickle@lemmy.world · 2y

TIL that British judges and lawyers wear white wigs to bring formality, solemnity, and anonymity to the courtroom

https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/national-traditions/why-british-lawyers-barristers-wear-wigs.htm

297 points · 59 comments · view on lemmy.world

59 Comments

NegativeInf@lemmy.world · 111 pts · 2y (10 replies)

I thought it was to cover up syphilitic lesions and just kinda stuck around.

Hawke@lemmy.world · 42 pts · 2y (1 reply)

That might be wigs in general, probably not specifically their use in the British legal system.

downpunxx@fedia.io · 8 pts · 2y

you've fallen for it

ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 18 pts · 2y (4 replies)

That's pretty much what the article says

delirious_owl@discuss.online · 46 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Wigs began to catch on in the late 16th century when an increasing number of people in Europe were contracting the STI. Without widespread treatment with antibiotics (Sir Alexander Fleming didn't discover penicillin, the treatment for syphilis until 1928), people with syphilis were plagued by rashes, blindness, dementia, open sores and hair loss. The hair loss was particularly problematic in social circles.

This fucking culture, man. People getting dimensia and going blind, but if they loose their hair then their friends abandon them.

downpunxx@fedia.io · 11 pts · 2y

everybody's gotta have a code, man

acockworkorange@mander.xyz · 6 pts · 2y

To be fair it might have been the fear of catching the disease plus the stigma (it was associated with prostitution and bohemian lifestyle).

NoneYa@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y

[ removed ]

tehWrapper@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y (2 replies)

It was also a thing of class since white powdered wigs where taxed more if remember right. Cant have the poor people looking pimp in white wigs!

TheWordBotcher@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y (1 reply)

That typo made me chuckle.

tehWrapper@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y

Ah me to corrected.

Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world · 63 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Just looks dumb to me but what do I know

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 2y

If you've ever been inside a British courtroom, you'll discover that they regularly act dumb, too. Lots of pomp and circumstance, but its still the same clueless, vulgar assholes under the hood.

demuxen@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 2y (2 replies)

I think that's intentional. It proves their dominance. I mean you have to go to them and they are wearing something very silly and you have to pretend it's not silly, and if you don't they will harm you somehow.

Brickhead92@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y

Laugh at a lawyer wearing a wig, and they will come to your house at night and cut you!

CouldntCareBear@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2y

Just some good ol' oppression of the prol's through class.

Nutteman@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y

You know they look dumb as hell, so you have what going for you at least

Nastybutler@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 2y (11 replies)

Welp. Considering it does none of those three things, maybe it's time for them to go the way of the buggy whip

Don_Dickle@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y (10 replies)

Not from Britain but trying to get new slang every day what is a buggy whip.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 17 pts · 2y (8 replies)

The whip used to whip the horse(s) pulling your horse-drawn buggy.

Don_Dickle@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Thank you for educating me... i do appreciate it....no sarcasm.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 9 pts · 2y (3 replies)

I did pause for a bit, pondering if it was actually some new slang...

Then decided if I'm wrong then it's only on the internet.

SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y (2 replies)

There's no stopping the start of its rebirth in modern slang. Someone just needs to give it a new meaning.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 3 pts · 2y (1 reply)

100% buggy whip, yo.

ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 3 pts · 2y

Ah shit, they be 100% buggy whipping in their whip.

FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 2y

That’s actually amish talk “buggy whip”

Revan343@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Interesting; here in Alberta a buggy whip is a flexible (fibreglass, at least mine is) flagpole for the back of your truck.

deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz · 2 pts · 2y

Hmm, I'm guessing that buggy whips were more like a flexible pole rather than the stereotypical Indiana Jones whip.

So a thin flexible pole would make sense.

Like when you'd whack your little brother with a long bendy stick when you were kids.

Nastybutler@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

Just an example of something outdated that's not needed anymore

njm1314@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 2y (2 replies)

I know people are here going like "it makes them look silly." Good. Lawyers need to feel like they look silly. This is a group of people that needs to be taken down a peg every single day. If judges and lawyers can be made humble just a little bit we all benefit in society.

Rivalarrival@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 2y

They need to be pegged two or three times a day.

Glasgow@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y

They think they look good tho

delirious_owl@discuss.online · 29 pts · 2y (9 replies)

Wigs are so much a part of British criminal courts that if a barrister doesn't wear one, it's seen as an insult to the court.
...
Most are handmade from 100 percent horsehair, though there are synthetic versions available today, too. Horsehair wigs aren't cheap, either, especially when they're handmade and combine an ages-old craft of styling, sewing and gluing. A judge's full-length wig can cost more than $3,000
...
Those who couldn't afford the best garb but wanted to look the part wore wigs made of hair from goats, spooled cotton or from the hair of human corpses

This is the stupidest and most disgusting thing I've read today, thanks.

lud@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y (8 replies)

Hair is already dead and animal hair (can't remember which animal) is also used for the best brushes used for painting. IMO as long as the hair is washed which it obviously is, it's not really disgusting.

Cypher@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

[ removed ]

delirious_owl@discuss.online · -6 pts · 2y (6 replies)

Its disgusting to use a being's body without their consent.

lud@lemm.ee · 0 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Again, hair is dead.

And honestly if you are referring to the animals (which you are, otherwise you wouldn't say "beings") they likely wouldn't have been born in the first place if humans didn't like their hair.

delirious_owl@discuss.online · 1 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Necrophila is immoral.

lud@lemm.ee · 3 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Yeah no shit Sherlock. That has nothing to do with taking the hair of dead people though.

If I'm dead you can take whatever part you want and use it for medical purposes or wigs I guess. I don't really care, because I would be fucking dead.

delirious_owl@discuss.online · 0 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Just because you don't care doesn't mean others don't care.

Why do you think cultures have condemned necrophilia?

lud@lemm.ee · 3 pts · 2y

Taking hair isn't necrophilia

Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 2y

Yeah, I demand an end to wooden structures!

tilefan@lemm.ee · 18 pts · 2y (1 reply)

are they aware that their attempt at solemnity makes me giggle

tilefan@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y

I had a lot of trouble taking the courtroom scenes of Broadchurch seriously

Jimmycakes@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y (1 reply)

We need to stop treating courts and judges like they are sone mythical magical place and judges are mini little emperors in their mini little kingdom. It's just a fucking place people need to go to handle their business. Why the fuck should everyone stand because the guy showed up for his job. All this shit is too much and judges are increasingly out of their minds

shimdidly@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y

Its all a façade because the system is designed to screw you, and grind upon the face of the poor. Justice? More like just-us.

Etterra@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 2y

That's stupid, they're stupid.

icerunner_origin@startrek.website · 11 pts · 2y

Time to ditch the Guy Fawkes mask for a powdered wig instead

rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y (1 reply)

What it brings nowadays is a bit of yassss, queen!

occhionaut@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

Serving court

sundray@lemmus.org · 11 pts · 2y