"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two
separate yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime
and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their
stories."
You've no doubt heard the spiel at the beginning of Law and Order (if not then you've had a lucky life). However it wasn't always the case in this country (that is to say England and Wales, Scotland has its own way of doing law and don't even ask about Northern Ireland) that the police and the prosecutors were separated so neatly. Up until the mid 1980s police officers could and would prosecute offenders in certain cases. Officially they were acting as private citizens in court but in reality the same officer could investigate an offence, arrest a suspect and then prosecute the case, no doubt they would have been judge and jury as well if they could. Clearly this was unsatisfactory and prone to corruption of process. I give this little history lesson to explain how the Guildhall comes to have an entrance marked Police Court. Nowadays we have an independent Crown Prosecution Service and Magistrates courts and everything is all just tickety-boo, well that is their story.
The fat putti, the medusa head, the teeny George and Dragon, and the freemasonry handshake (!!) I leave to your imagination. They show signs of having been damaged at some time and stuck back together; the Guildhall was hit by bombs during the last war so maybe that explains this. The entrance is down the street from the equally well adorned Crown Court entrance I showed some while back and now serves the Coroner's Court.
The weekend in black and white is here.
I like the entrance.
ReplyDeleteThey do know how to make an entrance pop in those days.
ReplyDeleteFrankly My Dear
Beautiful post.
ReplyDeleteQuelle magnifique bas relief au dessus de cette entrée
ReplyDeleteNice to read. Beautiful pic.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece of history! I'd love to know what it all symbolised.
ReplyDelete