A History of Legal Dress in England

From the 13^th century there is evidence that robes for Judges were made for summer and winter use. The summer robes required ‘half a short cloth and one piece of fine linen silk ‘ and for winter, ‘another half of a Cloth colour Curt, with a hood and 3 pieces of Fur of white Budge.’ At this time legal dress was not confined to certain colours like other areas of society. Green was favoured however, but colours varied according to the whim of the king and the dress for a long time was still influenced by fashion.

Armelausa became to be particularly associated with judges. This was a loose mantle fastened on the right shoulder, originating from lorum, which were worn in the Byzantine Empire. Armelausa would have been presented to judges as part of their livery by kings.

In the 15^th century the dress of judges became quite fixed. They wore a skull cap, a coif, a shoulder piece with a miniver hood, a short flat liripipe (a long tippet like hood) and a long supertunica with close sleeves. Scarlet became adopted universally for the colour of full dress of judges and lesser judges wore dress of mustard colour with the same components of dress apart from a sleeveless tabard was never worn.

In 1635 a decree was made titled the Discourse on Robes and Apparel.

I have found it interesting looking into legal dress briefly as I have learnt a lot of new names for historic garments and have broadened my knowledge of costume from the 13^th to 15^th centuries.