The British Judge's black sentencing cap (AKA Black cap)

I thought I did a post on my own blog about this, but this odd, little relic of court dress still exists in judicial garb: despite the abolishment of the death penalty. According the the UK Courts and Tribunal Judiciary's website:

 The black cap
The black cap – based on court headgear in Tudor times – was traditionally put on by judges passing sentence of death.
Since the permanent abolition of capital punishment in 1969, there has been no need for the cap to be worn. High Court Judges still carry the black cap, but only on an occasion where they are wearing full ceremonial dress.

 And Scott Turow writes in On Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflection on Dealing with the Death Penalty:

A friend of mine has just been made a High Court judge. Among the majestic paraphernalia that he has had to acquire—the scarlet robes, the wigs full-bottomed and otherwise, the pressed white gloves, the satin gaiters, the silver buckles and so forth—is a square of black silk, the Black Cap, that the court usher places on top of his wig before he pronounces the death penalty: or rather, would have had to place on top of his wig had the death penalty not been abolished in England thirty-eight years ago. 

Which is a good place to  move into WHY I am writing this.

They aren't flat pieces of cloth as the image to the above left demonstrates. Although, they do look like flat pieces of cloth when put on an actual head. In reality, they are more like floppy mortar boards (square academic caps), which this picture taken on a larger head on the right demonstrates better.

But they are flat with a hole in it. There are pictures of a couple of them at the Old Court House Law Museum, but I am going to post the one I have below since it shows the hole a bit better.
https://ehive.com/collections/204776/objects/2234527/death-cap-black

https://ehive.com/collections/204776/objects/2234734/death-cap-black 

You can sort of get an idea of what they look like in that one since you can make out the bottom triangle in the pictures (the Old Court House's and mine).  It's the little flaps hanging off to the side.

Sentencing caps are made from three pieces of cloth.

1. one flat square for the top
2.  a flat square with a hole in it for the middle
3. and a triangle with an indentation for the half hole in it for the bottom

you get  a better idea if you look at the bottom picture, since it's hard to see what they look like since they are black.

Also, when it's put on a full size human head the little flaps, which are what is called the skull on an academic cap, aren't as visible. The triangle bottom is like taking the skull, but leaving it open and flexible so it can flop around. You can see them in some of the pictures of a real cap.

Does that make sense, or do the pictures help?

Anyway, I'm getting annoyed with people saying it's a flat piece of cloth. Anyone who says that has never actually seen one in real life.

Although, these things are relics from when there was capital punishment, yet they are still part of a British Judge's full regalia. So, I'm surprised there isn't more knowledge about these things. I don't want what little is out there to be tainted by inaccuracy.

I'm also surprised that they are hard to find. I haven't put much effort into inquiring with Ede & Ravenscroft. On the other hand, Judicial wear is, according to the website (
https://shop.edeandravenscroft.com/pages/legal-specialist-contact):

These garments are hand cut and made to order in our bespoke workrooms.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

I guess the death penalty is not genteel enough to be discussed.

So, you will have to make an inquiry to Ede & Ravenscroft if you want one from them.

But someone should be able to crank these out on something like an Etsy for those of us ghoulish to want an authentic one.

I'm hoping this helps those people.

And this gets to a great time to put in a plug for my favourite pub owner and hangman, Albert Pierrepoint. He ran a pub in Lancashire from the mid-1940s until the 1960s. 

On the other hand, he was one of the last official hangman in Britain. who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. 

There's a great film about him called Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, or just The Last Hangman. But that's not really accurate since after Pierrepoint's resignation, two assistant executioners were promoted to lead executioner: Jock Stewart and Harry Allen. Over the next seven years they carried out the remaining thirty-four executions in the UK. On 13 August 1964 Allen hanged Gwynne Evans at Strangeways Prison in Manchester for the murder of John Alan West; at the same time, Stewart hanged Evans's accomplice, Peter Allen, at Walton Gaol in Liverpool. They were the last hangings in English legal history. The following year the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 was passed, which imposed a five-year moratorium on executions. The temporary ban was made permanent on 18 December 1969.

So, nothing like a bit of trivia about the death penalty 

Now, will someone correct this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cap

Happy Bastille Day!

I don't know if it is the heat typically or purely coincidental, but there have been a number of revolutions that resulted in new nations or independence in the month of July.  Bastille Day happens to be one of my favorites, and never more so than with the change of administrations this year in France.

We owe so much of our nation coming into existence to the French, from figures like the Marquis de Lafayette, who negotiated a great deal of that support from Louis XVI.  He was later one of the guiding figures in the French revolution as well as one of those who was a moderating influence on it.
Trivia questions for the day. looking at the intersection of the French and ourselves.
1. What was the actual name, as distinct from his title, of Lafayette?
2.  Which of the following, while French nationals, are considered United States Founding Fathers as well as significant figures in the French Revolution?
     a. Comte de Rochambeau
     b. Comte de Grasse
     c. Admiral de la Touche Treville
     d. Marquis de Lafayette

3. We refer to the press/ news media, and now increasingly some bloggers as the fourth estate; the first, second and third estates are a traditional division from the French.  What are the first, second and third estates?

4. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended the American Revolutionary War.  The failure of the Estates General of 1789 led to the forming of the National Assembly and the French Revolution, inspired in part by our own Continental Congress and the American Revolution.  What public issue that we face today was addressed by the National Assembly?
   a. national security
   b. debt and taxation
   c. balance of power between church and state

5. The French Revolution was supportive of what economic system?
   a. socialism
   b. capitalism
   c. mercantilism
   d. co-operativism / communalism

6. What was the motto of the French revolution, inspired by the American Revolution, that continues to be their motto today?
   a. liberty, equality, brotherhood
   b. all for one and one for all
   c. bread, wine, freedom

7. What was the intellectual movement that spread across Europe that originated in France that was the foundation for the American Revolution?
   a. the Enlightenment
   b. the Encyclopediae
   c. Naturalism

Vive la France! Vive la liberte! et Vive trivia!

Om Mane Padme HohhhhhmMMMy-Gosh

A friend spends some of her lunch break each day perusing the internet for diversion from life in 'Corporate America'.  She kindly shares some of the more amusing cyber-nuggets with me.

Today's bit-o-gold and glitter shared from the internet was about yoga images on parking tickets as a soothing exercise in public art.