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Comment by Houyhnhnms | Hacker News Reader

As someone who interacts with people wearing legal wigs on a semi-regular basis, it is very interesting to see the origins of wig wearing in the UK and the reduction in size over time. I love to see these sort of historical fashions; it shows both that people over time are very similar to us, but also, at least cosmetically, very different.

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Somehow, I find legal wigs shocking. It feels like a reductio ad absurdum and makes whole legal system seem less legitimate. The disingenuous way they wear them make it even worse.

There's something Asimovian about the British legal system.

The wearing of wigs has been greatly reduced in most English court settings but it does seem to still have support in the areas it's still used: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2021/feb/16/it-is-helpful-to...

tl;dr it's argued that having a recognisable uniform, no matter how bizarre, levels the playing field and provides a sense of professionalism.

I get that tldr in principle. You can definitely go too far. At some point in the bizarreness scale, uniforms do the opposite. Makes it seem like these people probably don't know what they're doing.

Still in England, think of queens guards. Those red bear hat uniforms make them seem like silly tourist attractions that you can tickle for a selfie, not professional soldiers that you shouldn't mess with. In that case, maybe that's OK. For barristers, that's not what you want.

There's a case for uniforms, but it's doesn't extend indefinitely.

My take on legal wigs, as an ex-barrister, is that they are an anachronistic historical decoration. They mean nothing, they are not "Asimovian" or other twaddle like that. They are the vestiages of Office that were never modernised, nor was there any good reason to do so other than a desire to appear modern. Those who use the Bar would understand that the competence, or otherwise, of barristers was unrelated to whether or not they wore a clump of horse-hair on their head. I never minded, and quite liked, it as it separated us from other lesser legal wamabees like solicitor advocates.

Indeed, the ridiculous and absurd way they are worn with seemingly no effort.

A black toga[1] is traditionally worn in Dutch court cases by all the legal masters, but it does look rather stylish.

[1]: https://www.win-nieuws.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Student...

There is a good Netflix series called Thieves Of The Wood that has a subplot about a social climber trying to "get his wig" (a symbol of the office he aspires to). Some very cool wigs. Takes place in 18th century Belgium.

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