Step into an Indian courtroom and you’ll find advocates dressed in a strikingly uniform attire: the black coat and the white band. This is no coincidence: it’s a tradition rooted in centuries-old English legal customs.
The story begins in Britain’s Inns of Court—the professional associations for barristers in London, established as early as the 14th century.
Members of these Inns followed a dress code: long black robes symbolising dignity, learning, and authority. When the British introduced their legal system in India, this attire crossed over as well.
Black, historically linked to formality and solemnity, represents the gravity of justice and the advocate’s responsibility.
White, on the other hand, stands for purity and truth, reflecting the lawyer’s role in presenting honest arguments. Together, they became a code of both power and integrity.
Even today, Indian lawyers wear a white shirt and neckband, topped with a black coat or gown, especially in higher courts.
The gown is a direct inheritance from the British Inns of Court, while the white bands echo the ‘tabs’ worn by barristers in England.
Across the world, legal dress varies: wigs in England, robes in Europe, coloured sashes in Latin America. But in India, the black-and-white attire remains a living symbol of colonial legacy blended with moral duty.
The lawyer’s uniform is more than clothing. It is an emblem of the law itself, carrying forward a tradition born in London’s Inns of Court, but alive in Indian democracy.
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