When Acting Justice Ralph M. Smith opened district court in Somerville, Mass, one morning last week, beaming Clerk Louis Connolly presented him with an empty docket. There had not been a single arrest in Somerville for 34 hours. Beaming even more brightly, Clerk Connolly then handed up a package from a 5-&-10¢ store. Contents: a pair of white gloves. Significance: When judges made a circuit of ancient English towns to hold assizes, any town which had no criminals to be tried celebrated such a "maiden assize" by presenting the judges with white glovesbecause judges as a mark of submission...
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