Flipping their Wigs

As lawyers and spectators filled a Victoria courtroom on April 10, 1905, all eyes watched expectantly for the justices of the BC Supreme Court to enter.

The full court, consisting of Chief Justice Gordon Hunter, Justice Paulus Irving, and Justice Archer Martin, would hear the appeal of Hopper vs. Dunsmuir. But the case itself wasn’t the reason for the breathless atmosphere.

When the judges failed to appear at their usual starting time of 11 a.m., tongues began wagging. According to the Victoria Daily Colonist, “as the hands of the clock moved round and minute after minute passed, counsel … engaged in whispered conversation as to the cause of the delay … Consequently, it was with feelings of suppressed excitement that the appearance of the judges was awaited.”¹ The prevailing belief was that a last-minute debate was underway in the judges’ chambers over whether they would comply with new rules that one of their number had volubly denounced. Finally they arrived, marking a sartorial shift in the province’s legal history. For the first time, a superior court hearing would be held with all parties bare-headed. As the Colonist observed, “[T]he death knell had been sounded on horsehair wigs in the courts of British Columbia.”²

Tradition of courtroom dress

The tradition of British barristers and judges wearing wigs dates to the 17th century when wigs became fashionable in high society generally. At the time, premature hair loss was problematic in social circles, as it was a sure sign of syphilis. Wigs also helped prevent the spread of lice.³

The judiciary initially resisted the change, but eventually accepted it, then embraced it. Wigs remained part of formal British courtroom