Black cap

Common card · No. 468583

The black cap is a plain black fabric square formerly worn as symbolic headgear by English, Welsh, and Irish judges in criminal cases when passing a sentence of death. When worn, the square was placed on top of the judicial wig, with one of the four corners of the fabric facing forward. The cap is based on Tudor court styles. Originally, the cap was a normal part of judicial full dress, as worn by judges on all especially formal or solemn occasions, of which passing a death sentence was just one. Although the death penalty has long been abolished in the United Kingdom, the black cap is still part of a judge's official regalia, and is carried into the High Court of Justice by each sitting judge when full ceremonial dress is called for. It is worn every year on 9 November, when the new Lord Mayor of the City of London is presented to the Law Courts. It also forms part of the regalia of a judge of the High Court of Northern Ireland. The black cap was worn by judges in Northern Ireland passing...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Unknown, reprinted (uncredited) in Marjoribanks, E, "The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall", 1929, Victor Gollancz Ltd. Image between pages 310 and 311, Public domain