The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, SEPT. 18, 1915 "SIR "

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 September 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY, SEPT. 18, 1915 "SIR "

.\lr Justice Edwards lately took occasion to comment on the occasional misuse of titles 011 the part of witnesses who came before the .Supreme Court, lfc is no unusual thing for a witness unused to Supreme Court ways to address tiie presiding judge as "Your Worship" instead of "Your Honour." and it. is in our memory that a witness in the Supreme Court at Wellington. once answered a piiestion by the judge with Mister!" As the .'witness was a /lurried man. and not a disrespectful, he was politely informed of the proper mode of addressing a judge. In .Mr Justice Edwards's recent reference to the. proper methods of courtesy to the bench he spoke of the good old-lash ioned appellation "Sir," and remarked that "Sir" would do even if one 'wore addressing the King. This remark recalls to mind the fact that in older times the use of "Sir" •as a word of add row was mueh more circumscribed than it is to-day. •when ".Sir" and "Esquire" are lifted almost indiscriminately, though originally the title of esquire was reserved lor armour-bearers attendant on knights, and later on for landed proprietors. An interesting reference to the title of "Sir" is given in l)r Brewer's Readers' Handbook, in the form of a quotation from "Foote's play "The Mayor of Garratt." Sir Jacob Jollup. a vulgar pompous landlord, was iso proud of Iris title, given him by The king, that to be addressed merely as "Sir," did not satisfy him. Tn the play a. character answers him by saying "Anan (anon) sir." whereupon the knight exclaims. "Sir! sirrah? and why not Sir Jacob, you rascal P- Ts that all your manners? Has His Majesty dubbed me a kinght for you to inako me a mister P"