Sunday, May 08, 2005

Apocrypha (9)

Since courts exercise power on behalf of the Crown, each court building displays the Royal coat-of-arms - you know, the one with the lion and the unicorn, and the motto Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense.

The arms are also placed above the centre of the Bench in all courtrooms. Somewhere, no doubt, there is a dedicated group of artisans producing these symbols of authority to be used in new and refurbished courts throughout the land.

The courthouse in which I sit has a number of courtrooms, and one small detail puzzles me:

In Courts One and Three the unicorn is undoubtedly a stallion. In the other courts he is clearly a gelding. Why should this be? Is this symbolic of something, or merely armigerous artistic licence?

I think that we should be told.

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