THE DAYS OF THE WIG and robe, the antiquated uniform of the legal profession, may be numbered.
For nearly five centuries, judges and barristers have set themselves apart in the courtrooms of Britain and then Hong Kong with their archaic dress code.
But things may be about to change. England's top legal eagle, Lord Irvine of Lairg, the Lord Chancellor, is considering whether to scrap wigs in courts.
With Hong Kong law based so closely on the British system, the same formalities regarding legal dress codes apply here too. As part of the tradition, judges are required to wear robes and horse-hair wigs with no side curls in court, while barristers wear ordinary wigs and gowns. On ceremonial occasions, such as the opening of the legal year held each January, judges and Senior Counsels (SCs) must wear a full-bottomed wig with curls hanging down the front.
There is one exception in Hong Kong. In 1997, the chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang decreed that judges of the Court of Final Appeal should be bare-headed in order to distinguish them from other courts. Barristers, however, still have to wear wigs.
While there's little doubt that wigs and robes seem slightly absurd in this day and age, they do make an impact. A prosecutor giving his opening speech to the judge, resplendent in an elegant wig and gown, cuts a formidable figure compared with the hoi polloi in the public gallery.