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19 February 2016 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7687 / Categories: Features , Profession
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If I had a hammer…

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The gavel serves as a small symbol of a deep disconnect between the public & UK law, says Jon Robins

If you are looking for a gift for that lawyer in your life, might I suggest a personalised gavel? There is nothing like the sighting of the little two-headed wooden hammers to stir the emotions of practitioners who will, without fail, point out that English judges have never used them.

Wonder of the web

It’s a great joy that there is now a website devoted to the inappropriate usage of gavels, brilliantly it’s called Inappropriate Gavels ( inappropriategavels.tumblr.com ). On the site’s home page you can see the image of a judge in all his full-bottomed wigged glory from a recent BBC drama set in the 18th century about the wealthy heiress, Lady Worsley. She caused outrage when she cuckolded her husband, Sir Richard and ran away with her lover Captain George Bisset.

It is an historical romp that raises an interesting legal issue: Sir Richard sued Bisset for criminal conversation

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