Saturday, January 08, 2005

It makes me mad!

There are quite a few popularly held misconceptions about courts and those who work in them, and that goes with the job.



There are some in particular that drive me mad :-



  • No, magistrates do not wear wigs.
  • No, they do not bang gavels. No court of law in this country uses a gavel, but the media persist in portraying them. I blame a stupid Bruce Forsyth advert for Courts Furniture Stores that ran some years ago. Courts have now gone bust. Good.
  • No, the Bench are not bigoted blue-rinsed old farts - well at least 95% are not.
  • No, you do not address the Bench as 'Your Honour' . That's for the Americans and the Crown Court. Technically it's 'Your Worship' but everyone says 'Sir' these days, and that's fine.
  • No we don't give someone Community Service for mugging an old lady. That's just what the Daily Mail wants you to think.

1 comment:

  1. I have to say, my fledgling career as a Magistrate would be much more fun if I got to wear a wig.

    ReplyDelete

Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.