All the courts I now appear in are air conditioned. Such was not the case when I began practicing law in 1982. Quite a few courthouses were not air conditioned, or window units, which seemed to give off more noise instead of cool air, were relied upon. Traditionally male attorneys appear in court wearing suits and ties. That was quite hot enough. I am thankful that in the US we do not have to don wigs and robes also. Of course back in a more civilized time, outside of major urban centers, court was often not held during summer months, outside of fairly routine and brief matters. Better days than these. Now most courts are in session full time, and there is always grist for the grinding of the judicial mills.
They’re called fans. Knew a fellow who had a small battery operated one he could attach to his belt and it would blow air upward.
As my sainted maternal grandmother, Alice, noted when she visited us in 66 during a memorable heat wave in July of that year, “The fans are just blowing hot air!”. Newfoundland is a great place to live if one abhors hot weather. When we visited her and Dyke in 1967, her husband and one of the nicest men who ever lived, we had excellent sleeping weather in August with covers on the beds at night.
Mr. McClarey, have you ever read Tragedy at Law by Cyril Hare? All the talk of wigs and gowns put me in mind of it. It’s an excellent old-school English murder mystery set during World War II at the summer (?) assizes. (He wrote another very entertaining mystery called With a Bare Bodkin, set in the same time period but at a strange office called the Pin Control, yes, they monitored the use of straight pins, and expressions using “pin” occur throughout, very amusingly.)
I have not Fr.J. I will have to look them up!