British Justices & barristers still wear the wig (also called peruke) popularized in 17th century by the sudden spread of syphilis in Europe that resulted in hair loss.
Syphilis was likely carried back to Europe from the New World by Columbus, resulting in ~5M European deaths.
Clarification: Sailors on Columbus' expeditions are believed to have joined the army of King Charles VIII in his invasion of Italy in 1495, which is when the disease was 1st documented in Europe.
The naive European population suffered horrible symptoms and death rates.
An uncommon sign of secondary syphilis includes "moth eaten alopecia", hair loss characterized by patchy, intermittent loss; or a diffuse pattern that manifests as hair thinning. The prevalence among patients with history of syphilis is between 2.5 -- 7%
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
It's interesting in that you can see the specific changeover in "no wig" to "wig"
Every Chief Justice prior to 1682 wears the basic outfit worn by Sir Francis Pemberton here (+/- ruff)...
... and every Chief Justice after 1682 wears a wig similar to Sir George Jeffreys here in their official portraiture until 1996.
Here's the official portrait of Lord Chief Justice Gordon Hewart, who held the office from 1922 to 1940.
Tradition!
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