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FROM TODAY, JUDGES in Ireland will no longer be required to wear wigs of horsehair.
The historic use of the white, curly wigs in both the Supreme Court and High Court will end following a change in court rules yesterday.
The decision by the Superior Courts Rules Committee will save the State €2,200 for every new judge that is appointed.
The ruling was signed into law by Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who welcomed the move. He said it should be recognised as a “small but significant step” in the ongoing process of reform.
The tradition of wearing the horsehair wigs dates back to the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660 and they survived the transition to Independence in 1921.
In a statement yesterday evening, the Courts Service said a similar rule change will apply to Circuit Court judges.
A spokesman said the rule change is complementary to the removal of the necessity to address a judge in court as “My Lord”. It is now appropriate that a judge be referred to simply as “Judge” or “A Bhreithimh”.
Exemptions to the requirement for a judge to wear a wig have existed in relation to family law proceedings for some time.
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Suppose there’s gonna be a load of wigmakers signing on. …
And a few horses….
Ahh that’s a nice gesture..I’m not going to vote for them to have their pay reduced now ha ha ha nice try judges, your pr company sucks! Gonna take more than loosing the drag gear to win over the population!
You sound like a class warrior! Check the figures… Only a very few members of the judiciary didn’t sign up to voluntary pay reductions… An over-whelming number of them did.
Also, check out what your average SC is earning compared to a Judge… The vast majority take a HUGE pay cut to serve on the bench out of a sense of public duty…
Inform yourself before you take adopt the populist line.
Ronald, well at least the "very few" who didnt take the cut will now be got after the referendum. The SCs should reduce their fees also, or have their state funded cases capped. This self regulation stuff is crazy!!!
Michael, can you give me ANY example where a client, the state included, was required to take the serves of a SC instead of a lower charging Barrister looking for work around the Four Courts?
So the to make the very few judges who haven’t take the pay cut you’ll make judges answerable to the government of the day?
I thought ye people don’t like making it easy for corrupt politicians.
Ronald. We all know the Law Library is like a cattle mart – best beast to the highest bidder! Barristers crammed together in their wigs and gowns like fawning courtiers in the days of Versailles trying to outdo each other with the plummest tone or the aloofest air. No wonder the public don’t trust them
Exactly John. Free Market Choice.
Isn’t it wonderful?
Free market choice Indeed Ron.
Although I wonder a bit about how the professional bodies of other disciplines set a scale of fees that, prima facia at least, imply some kind of governance of fee charging.
Technically, your perfectly right Ron, nobody actually needs a SC, and can actually use a barrister, and it is a free market, an extremely overpriced free market however.
Pockets at the back of gowns worn since the death of Queen Ann for the discreet receipt of the filthy money of clients. Wigs of a bygone era which were a symbol of social position even then.
The law is archaic enough without practitioners dressing like fops.
No, they won’t be subsidised.
Good to see that we are finally moving past archaic traditions like this.
I listened to some pompous barrister on RTÉ this morning going on about how not wearing wigs somehow makes the courts less serious. Complete rubbish. Most courts all over the world don’t require judges to wear wigs. Does that mean they are somehow less serious than Irish courts?
@ Conor murphy. Good point. I think they’re trying to sell us a pup on judges’ pay too. Of course it’s going to be passed but there could be consequences. Judiciary should remain outside gov control.
It just won’t be the same what next no ties in the dail !
have your say