Line #55 Main/BlackCapOfDeath


1	[[quoteright:243:[[Film/RuthEllisALifeForALife https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackcap5.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:243:"And the Lord have mercy upon thy soul!"]]
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4	->''"You are sentenced to be taken hence to the prison in which you were last confined, and from there, to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until dead, and thereafter, your body buried within the precincts of the prison, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul."''
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6	In UsefulNotes/BritishCourts, a black cap[[note]]A simple square of black silk placed over the top of the judge's wig, with the sides at an angle relative to the side of his or her head.[[/note]] is the ultimate symbol of doom for a condemned man. Seeing a judge put it on lets all present in the courtroom know that, barring some miraculous appeal or other happenstance, the fate of the prisoner at the dock has been sealed. The sentence of death shall soon be passed.
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8	While British Judges are still issued the caps, the death penalty has been abolished[[note]]Although the unlikely-to-be-enforced offences of [[LittleKnownFacts violent piracy and high treason were both technically capital crimes until 1998]].[[/note]] (and now banned Europe-wide by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom European Convention on Human Rights]]), so they're unlikely to ever see use (with the possible exception of cases where the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council[[note]]Whose members consist primarily of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, though it has other members[[/note]] still acts as court of final appeal for residual colonies or for former colonies which apply British law and still have the death penalty).
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10	It's worth mentioning that "miraculous appeals or other happenstance" happened fairly frequently and increasingly more so over time. The death penalty was ''always'' passed for murder until the 1957 Homicide Act (which created a distinction between capital murders and other murders, the latter carrying life imprisonment). The monarch, or late the Home Secretary, could exercise the royal prerogative of mercy and commute a sentence to something [[SentencedToDownUnder like transportation to Australia]]. Executions were held off for a few weeks ("three clear Sundays" in the 20th century) to await the decision of London.
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12	As the death penalty for murder in England and Wales was heading for abolition after the election of UsefulNotes/HaroldWilson in 1964, the sentences after that were pure theatre, everyone knowing there would be a reprieve.
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14	Despite this, a judge wearing a black cap still serves as shorthand for "this prisoner's been sentenced to hang" (similarly to TheExecutioner's hood). A particularly crazy HangingJudge might even be already wearing it.
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16	The cap has a black ColorMotif both because black is the traditional color of death and mourning,[[note]]in the Western world, anyway[[/note]] and to signify that the judge is humble before {{God}} who has the only real power over life and death.
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18	Useless trivia: when the British ruled over Ireland, the judicial black cap was known in Gaelic as the ''caip bais'', pronounced "kybosh". Thus a new word entered English.[[note]]This is only one of several suggested etymologies for the word kibosh[[/note]] Of course, the judge wasn't so much putting the kybosh on his own head as, symbolically, on the condemned man's...
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20	----
21	!!Examples
22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Comics]]
25	* Late in ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', specifically Volume 14: Witches, King Flycatcher dones a black hood when rendering his judgement about Mr. Brump the goblin devouring of Mr. Seed-create the squirrel, echoing this trope. It ends up subverted as Brump only ends up exiled.
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28	[[folder:Film ]]
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30	* In ''Film/LetHimHaveIt'' (a film based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Bentley_case Derek Bentley case]]), the judge has his black cap put on his head when he [[ForegoneConclusion sentences Bentley to hang]].
31	* In ''Film/DialMForMurder'', Margot's trial scene ends with the horrified look on her face after the judge puts on his black cap.
32	* The 1962 CourtroomDrama film ''Film/TheBoys1962'' [[note]]no relation to ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' comicbook[[/note]] ends with the one remaining defendant breaking down in tears as the black cap is solemnly brought out and placed above the judge's head as sentence is read out.
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35	[[folder:Literature ]]
36	* In ''Literature/DeathComesToPemberley'' and its television adaptation, the judge at George Wickham's trial puts it on when condemning him to the gallows.
37	* In Agatha Christie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', [[spoiler: after Judge Wargrave has been found dead ([[FakingTheDead apparently]]), another character (Philip Lombard) mentions that there will be no more putting on his black cap and sending others to the gallows for him.]]
38	* In Pamela Branch's ''Literature/TheWoodenOvercoat'', the character of Benji wonders, during a trial, why the judge has his black cap tucked up under his desk?
39	* In the ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'' short story, "Rumpole and the Vanishing Juror", Rumpole muses that there is always one jury member that is too eager to see the black cap brought out.
40	* In ''Literature/JudgeDee'' books, the Chinese equivalent is the judge wearing a red robe.
41	* The judge at Dr. Bickleigh's trial at the end of ''Literature/MaliceAforethought'' and its first television adaptation puts on a black cap when sentencing the doctor to the gallows.
42	* In Creator/BramStoker's short story "The Judge's House", the titular judge's ghost slowly dons a black cap before hanging his house's current tenant.
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46	[[folder:Live-Action TV ]]
47	* In Blackadder's courtmartial in ''Series/BlackadderGoesForth'' General Melchett assures Blackadder that [[BlatantLies he'll be an impartial judge]] (Blackadder accidentally shot and ate Melchett's pet pigeon), then calls for the black cap because he'll be needing it, unlike any pretenses of justice.
48	* The Creator/{{BBC}}'s 2007 mini-series version of ''Literature/OliverTwist'' has the Judge (played by Rob Brydon) blithely asking how many people's sent to the gallows that week (22, but it was only Tuesday) before cavalierly slapping on a black cap and giving Oliver the death sentence for pickpocketing. Later in that same adaptation, in sentencing Fagin he wordlessly puts on his black cap and slams his gavel and Fagin is taken away.
49	* Spoofed in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' during the "Court Charades" sketch when a judge portrayed by Graham Chapman sentences another judge to be burnt at the stake as he slaps on a black cap.
50	* Appears in ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' when [[spoiler:Mr. Bates]] receives a guilty verdict that carries a mandatory death sentence [[spoiler: which fortunately is later overturned on appeal]].
51	* Seen in ''Series/{{Grantchester}}'' when a character is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. The angle shifts momentarily to one above and behind the judge to call attention to the action.
52	* ''Series/FoylesWar'': The episode "The Hide" has full solemn choral music played as the the Black Cap is reverentially brought out and placed upon the judge's head to pronounce sentence, even as the scene is intercut with Foyle discovering the secrets that the sentencee is pleading guilty to protect.
53	* ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'': In the episode "Rumpole and the Golden Thread", when Rumpole visits an African nation which still has the death penalty, the resident British Ambassador is excited to see a capital case because seeing the black cap brought out "adds a certain zest" to the trial. Rumpole is not enthusiastic about seeing it in the least, however.
54	* ''Series/WorzelGummidge'': In the episode of "The Trial of Worzel Gummidge", after Worzel is found "very guilty" the Crow-Man, acting as a judge, places a black top hat on his head before sentencing Worzel to be thrown on the compost heap (the death penalty for a scarecrow). Somewhat undercutting the solemness of the scene is that the Crow-Man always wears a black top hat, he just changed his usual one for a different one explicitly for the sentence.
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57	[[folder:Music]]
58	* Music/PeterGabriel: "The Court" describes the narrator's trial in a KangarooCourt as a commentary on the dichotomy between the necessity and abuse of law. Partway through the song, the narrator notes how "the black cat judge reaches for his silk;" combined with the reference to the [[CatStereotype "black cats are unlucky"]] myth, the line implies that the narrator will be sentenced to death. Appropriately, the rest of the song depicts the narrator lamenting the corruption of justice and hoping that the public will rise up to set things right.
59	* Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}: At the end of [[Music/SellingEnglandByThePound "The Battle of Epping Forest"]], the gangs' accountants check back on the battlefield and find that all the participants killed each other, resulting in a draw; consequently, they decide to flip a coin to settle the boundary dispute that started the battle. The narrator of the song refers to the accountants as "Blackcap Barons" when recounting this, implying that they ultimately hold full responsibility for the carnage that took place.
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62	[[folder:Web Animation]]
63	* ''[[WebAnimation/ExtraCredits Extra History]]'''s second episode on Jonathan Wild, a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] who controlled most of London's underground, all the while posing as a popular public figure. When he was found out, the court sentenced him to hang, and [[TheNarrator Matt]] describes the judge putting on his black cap.
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66	[[folder:Real Life ]]
67	* There are only two known photographs of the Black Cap being actually worn while a death sentence is being pronounced. [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seddon_being_sentenced_to_death.jpg This photo from 1912]] shows Mr Justice Bucknill passing sentence on the convicted murderer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Seddon Frederick Seddon]], who poisoned his tenant Eliza Mary Barrow. Seddon was hanged a month later. [[https://www.maryevans.com/search.php?prv=preview&job=5136250&itm=2&pic=12020989&row=1 This 1922 photo]] shows Mr Justice Avory passing sentence on Thomas Allaway, convicted of murdering Irene Wilkins.
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Context Main / BlackCapOfDeath