Appendix CASE ONE - Collection Point® | The Total Digital Asset ...

90 Legal History in the Making
realistic picture we first have to establish whether it is a representation of an
actual courtroom and, if so, how accurate it is. Descriptions of the courtroom
of the Law Court of Holland in the Hague show that the engraving is a very
realistic picture of this court. 19 In 1511 the dining hall of the counts of Holland
was transformed into a courtroom. It was given a new ceiling with beams and
in the north wall a gigantic chimney was built with a door on either side.
Its four windows had benches. With the help of a wooden fence with the
statues of fifteen animals, holding the coats-of-arms of the princes, a square
was formed in which the sittings of the court took place. Within this tribunal
were the benches for the judges, the barristers and the solicitors. In front of the
chimney was the chair for the Stadtholder in whose name the administration of
justice took place.
The engraver assumes a high stance, from which we look down on the Court
of Holland in session. 20 Under a canopy is a seat with the two judges who
normally form the bench. 21 Opposite them sits the prosecutor. At a table in
between are pictured the clerk of the court and his secretary. On the benches
in the front part of the tribunal we see men with and without hats. According
to the records the first three benches on entering were for barristers, the last
two for solicitors. 22 That means that the men with hats are barristers and those
without hats are solicitors. As only the judges, prosecutor, barristers and
solicitors were allowed within the fence, the hatless figures approaching the
clerk's table are solicitors. They are wearing short capes, unlike the barristers
who were obliged to wear a gown. 23 On the left, however, in the benches of
the barristers there is also a man without a hat: he is standing and gesturing.
Art. 55 of the court's rules of procedure gives us the explanation: 24 'Barristers
. . . while pleading will stand up and respectfully uncover their heads until the
president of the court allows them to wear their hats'. Up to this point it can
be checked that the engraving is realistic, and a wonderful help in visualizing
seventeenth century written reports of sessions of the Court of Holland.
On closer inspection, the realistic-looking part of the public attending the
sitting of the court implies more. We see all kinds of people in the public part of
the hall: rich and poor, male and female, some young people and even a dog.
Some of the people in the foreground and along the fence are looking at us.
19
A. Ising, Het Binnenhof te 's Gravenhage (The Hague, 1879); Beschrijving van de Grafelijke
Zalen op het Binnenhof te 's Gravenhage. In opdracht van den Minister van Waterstaat bewerkt door
de Commissie van advies en uitgegeven door de Maatschappij tot bevordering der Bouwkunst (The
Hague, 1907); G.G. Calkoen, 'Het Binnenhof van 1247-1747 (volgens de rentmeesterrekeningen
van Noord-Holland)', Die Haghe (1902), 36-89; J. de Riemer, Beschrijving van 's Gravenhage (Delft,
1730).
20
In reality it is impossible to look at the hall from there. In this the artist is following the fashion of
his time.
21
Groot Plakaatboek (The Hague and Amsterdam, 1658) [G.P.B.] Pt. II, 715, art. 50.
22
G.P.B.,II, 1082.
2
3 Ibid.
24
G.P.B.,II,716.