The Orphans’ Court has moved
Here where the brick church was razed —
Orderliness by polished slabs improved;
Waifs don’t wander and no babies gaze
Where novices prayed; professionals appraise
Eternal truths not to be held but proved.
The Orphans’ Court was reassigned
To new offices, new bosses,
And all the sites of ceremony designed
For legal ritual altars’ wins and losses.
To soften the Courthouse lest it seem too brutal,
The walls surround a courtyard, not a prison yard;
At lunch the staffers chat by doors unbarred;
What does it matter if appeals are futile?
Into the facade they’ve built an Oyster Bar;
And let it not be said here that the Law
Lacks compassion where the rulers commit
Pearls of wisdom, hierarchic wit;
Or fails to ameliorate the raw
Preciousness inside a shell of slime and grit.
The function of the Orphans’ Court is to oversee the distribution of the property of persons who have died. The Orphans’ Court gets its name from the fact that when the first such institution was established in England in the 13th century, the children of deceased male landowners were considered orphans whether or not the mother had died. The prototypical Court of Orphans of the city of London was essentially a bank with control over the assets of minors. (Its legal predecessor, the Ecclesiastical Court, was also a financial institution, with jurisdiction to guarantee that priests were paid for their services.)
Today in the United States, Orphans’ Courts are basically probate courts at the county level. American Orphans Courts date back to the 17th century, but in many states they have been abolished and their functions taken over by other courts.