Bow tie blues

The Chief Magistrate was reportedly livid. He ordered Mr Hosein to go and get a “proper” tie. But Mr Hosein had no ties in his office. So the Chief Magistrate ordered him to exit the court forthwith. Hosein’s colleague, Frank Solomon, also a Senior Counsel, requested that magistrate McNicolls allow Mr Hosein to remain in court for the day. But the Chief Magistrate would have none of that. “What are we to do? Waste more time?” he asked. But this admission that time had been wasted was, presumably, only a Freudian slip. “Why should I make an exception in this case?” Mr McNicolls continued, and then, adopting the royal plural, asserted, “If we do, then we would get rid of all the standards.”

The Chief Magistrate did not elaborate on what standards he was referring to. Mr Hosein is a Senior Counsel and has therefore, we assume, attained some minimum excellence in the practice of law. But what are the standards by which legal excellence is judged? There are some obvious criteria. First, a lawyer must have extensive knowledge of the philosophy, theory and practice of jurisprudence. When trying a case, he must be aware of legal precedent and be able to cite cases which support his arguments. Legal excellence also depends on adherence to the highest ethical standards, wherein which a lawyer follows the best practice in order to ensure that fair trials are the norm, not the exception, in the nation’s courts.

Apparently, though, the Chief Magistrate is of the view that wearing a blue bow tie undermines these standards. The inefficient bureaucracy, the long delays in hearings being heard, the frequent postponements brought about by lawyers taking on too many cases, the poor defence and prosecutions caused by inexperienced or incompetent attorneys, the backlog of cases in the magistrates’ court, the idiosyncrasies of magistrates themselves, and the dilapidated state of too many courthouses — these are ills which receive less attention from the Chief Magistrate than an attorney’s bow tie or, as happened in 2004 with Senior Counsel Israel Khan, a Nehru suit.

Mr Khan has filed for judicial review arguing that a Nehru suit is suitable attire for court. Mr Hosein, in his turn, has noted that a bow tie shows “an excess of respect for the court.” He also argued, that a bow tie “in addition to being discreet, is also fashionable.”

However, it seems that the colonial heritage is alive and well in some quarters. Certainly, a legal officer must be well-attired for court appearances — that is simply a matter of respect and necessary formality. At the same time, given all the deficiencies in the legal system, we would have hoped that people in high office would focus on substantive issues rather than trivia. The country’s courts will not be improved by straining at a gnat while swallowing the whole camel.