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Secular Investiture by the Ring: Chancellor

There are some quaint old customs still adhering to the making of a serjeant. He is presented to the Lord Chancellor by some brother barrister (styled his 'colt'), and he kneels while the Chancellor attaches to the top of his wig the little, round, black patch that now does duty for the ' coif,' which is the special badge of the Serjeant. The new Serjeant presents a massive gold ring to the Chancellor, another to his 'colt,' one to the Sovereign, and each of the Masters of the Court of Common Pleas. These rings used also to be given to all the Judges, but of late years the Judges have refused to receive them, thus diminishing a somewhat heavy tax.

It would be curious to know whether this custom is derived from the Romans. Juvenal alludes to the practice of lawyers exhibiting their rings when pleading :- Ideo conducta Paulus agebat Sardonyche et que ideo plurisquam Cossus agebat Quam Basilus. Rara in tenui facundia panno.