Charles Dickens wrote of the Old Bailey, “Nothing is so likely to strike the person who enters [the courts] for the first time, as the calm indifference with which the proceedings are conducted; every trial seems a mere matter of business.” Lawyers, jury members, and court watchers lounged on hard wooden benches, reading the morning newspapers and conversing in low whispers. Some dozed off while waiting for the next case to be called. The atmosphere of nonchalance that pervaded the court could be deeply unsettling to the uninitiated. An outsider could have been forgiven if he missed the fact
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