# Was there a real "sword of justice" in US courthouses?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 3, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176 "2006-01-03T03:23:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176/1 "2006-01-03T03:23:51Z")

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I’m currently reading a history of the Underground Railroad, a loose but broad operation that smuggled slaves from the South to the North and Canada before the Civil War. Oh, okay, it’s Bound for Canaan by Fergus Bordewich, and it’s a darn good read

At one point, he mentions a street riot in Boston, shortly after the passing of draconian extensions to the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, in which a quickly-assembled abolitionist mob stormed a courthouse in which a captured slave was being held (the North was never “free country”, or even all that safe for fugitives, and the changes made it much less so). Anyway, the mob took “the city’s sword of justice” from the courthouse along with the man, who was quickly taken safely to Canada. Bordewich gave no other details about it.

That’s a new one on me. I’m certainly familiar with the Sword of Justice as a literary metaphor, and those are all the Google hits I can find, but was it also a real item commonly adorning American courtrooms as well?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176/2 "2006-01-04T19:18:05Z")

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That’s news to me. I’ve read a lot about the American legal system and Civil War-era history, and I’ve never heard of an actual “sword of justice” in any American courthouse.

The Queen of England (and her predecessors) had guys toting swords of justice in her coronation ceremony in 1953, but it pure symbolism.

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176/3 "2006-01-04T19:19:06Z")

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…but it _was_ pure symbolism.

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176/4 "2006-01-04T19:45:59Z")

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[WAG]

Did the courthouse have a statue of [Themis, Goddess of Justice](http://www.legalpresents.com/products/12-016b.jpg)? She is typically portrayed as a svelt damsel wearing Greek draperies and a blindfold, carrying a set of scales in one hand and a sword in the other. Maybe the mob stole the sword from the statue?

[/WAG]

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-real-sword-of-justice-in-us-courthouses/338176/5 "2006-01-04T19:48:53Z")

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\*That \* makes sense, thanks.