15 DECEMBER 1967, Page 26

Contempt of court

Sir: Marjorie Jones asks (Letters, 8 December) when, where, and by what means did the general public ever sit in court; the three answers, as every historian knows, are: in Plantagenet days, in every borough and village, on foot or by horseback. Moreover, in those days a very keen interest was taken by the general public in all court proceed- ings.

William Phillips Lamb Building, Temple, London EC4