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A judge is a person who over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the and any other evidence presented by the or of the case, assesses the credibility and of the parties, and then issues a Court order in the Case law based on their interpretation of the law and their own personal judgment. A judge is expected to conduct the trial and, typically, in an open court.
The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different . In some jurisdictions, the judge's powers may be shared with a jury. In inquisitorial systems of criminal investigation, a judge might also be an examining magistrate. The presiding judge ensures that all court proceedings are lawful and orderly.
The court usually has three main legally trained court officials: the judge, the prosecutor and the defence attorney. The role of a judge can vary between legal systems. In an adversarial system (common law), as in effect in the U.S. and England, the judge functions as an impartial referee, mainly ensuring correct procedure, while the prosecution and the defense present their case to a jury, often selected from common citizens. The main factfinder is the jury, and the judge will then finalize sentencing. Nevertheless, in smaller cases judges can issue without proceeding to a jury trial. In an inquisitorial system (civil law), as in effect in continental Europe, there is no jury and the main factfinder is the judge, who will do the presiding, judging and sentencing on their own. As such, the judge is expected to apply the law directly, as in the French expression Le juge est la bouche de la loi ("The judge is the mouth of the law"). Furthermore, in some systems even investigations may be conducted by the judge, functioning as an examining magistrate.
Judges may work alone in smaller cases, but in criminal, family and other significant cases, they work in a panel. In some civil law systems, this panel may include . Unlike professional judges, lay judges are not legally trained, but unlike jurors, lay judges are usually volunteers and may be politically appointed. Judges are often assisted by , Referendary and notaries in legal cases and by or similar with security.
Impartiality is often considered important for rule of law. Thus, in many jurisdictions judges may be appointed for life, so that they cannot be removed by the executive. However, in non-democratic systems, the appointment of judges may be highly politicized and they often receive instructions on how to judge, and may be removed if their conduct does not please the political leadership.
On the other hand, women are underrepresented in the supreme courts of the United States and European Union member-states, except for in Romania, where over 80% of the judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice are women.
/ref> The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the office in 2020 and suspension of Pauline Newman in 2023 reinvigorated the discussion about mandatory retirement age for federal judges, but such change would require a constitutional amendment and is unlikely to be implemented soon.
States have more flexibility in establishing a mandatory retirement age for judges, as was confirmed by the SCOTUS in its 1991 decision Gregory v. Ashcroft. As of 2015, 33 States and the District of Columbia had mandatory retirement ages for State court judges, which ranged from 70 to 75 for most (but is as high as 90 in Vermont).William E. Raftery, Increasing or Repealing Mandatory Judicial Retirement Ages, NAT’L CTR. FOR STATE CTS., https://www.ncsc.org/sitecore/content/microsites/ trends/home/monthly-trends-articles/2016/increasing-or-repealing-mandatory-judicialretirement-ages.aspx (last visited Feb. 27, 2020).
A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found significant positive effects on the performance of state Supreme Courts with mandatory retirement age for judges. The authors advocated the adoption of mandatory retirement ages for all federal and state judges, although they felt, that the individual authorities should decide on the specific age for themselves.Mandatory Retirement for Judges Improved Performance on U.S. State Supreme Courts. 2020. E. Ash, W.B. Macleod. doi: 10.3386/w28025.
American judges frequently wear black robes. American judges have ceremonial , although American judges have court deputies or bailiffs and contempt of court power as their main devices to maintain decorum in the courtroom. However, in some of the Western United States, like California, judges did not always wear robes and instead wore everyday clothing. Today, some members of state supreme courts, such as the Maryland Supreme Court wear distinct dress. In Italy and Portugal, both judges and lawyers wear particular black robes.
In some countries, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations, judges wear wigs. The long wig often associated with judges is now reserved for ceremonial occasions, although it was part of the standard attire in previous centuries. A short wig resembling but not identical to a barrister's wig (a Bench Wig) would be worn in court. This tradition, however, is being phased out in Britain in non-criminal courts.
In Oman, the judge wears a long stripe (red, green white), while the attorneys wear the black gown.
In Portugal and in the former Portuguese Empire, the judges used to carry a staff that was red for ordinary judges and white for the judges from the outside.
In the lower courts, magistrates are addressed as Your worship, and district court judges as Your Honour.
In the superior courts of record, namely the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the High Court of Hong Kong (which consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance), judges are addressed as My Lord or My Lady and referred to as Your Lordship or Your Ladyship, following the English tradition.
In writing, the post-nominal letters PJ is used to refer to a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal and NPJ to a non-permanent judge. In the High Court, the abbreviation JA is used to denote a justice of appeal, and the letter J refers to a judge of the Court of First Instance.
Masters of the High Court are addressed as Master.
When trials are conducted in Chinese, judges were addressed, in Cantonese, as Fat Goon Dai Yan () before the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China, and as Fat Goon Gok Ha () since 1997. Fat Goon () means the word "judge".
However, in an unprecedented move in October 2009, one of the judges of Madras HC, Justice K Chandru had banned lawyers from addressing his court as My Lord and Your Lordship.
In a district court ( käräjäoikeus), ordinary judges work with the title käräjätuomari and the chairman is laamanni (lawspeaker). They are assisted by notaries ( notaari), assessors ( asessori) and referendaries ( viskaali) who may sometimes even chair sessions. In appeals courts ( hovioikeus) an ordinary judge has the title hovioikeudenneuvos, the chairman of a section is hovioikeudenlaamanni and the court is led by a presidentti. In the Supreme Court, judges are titled oikeusneuvos and the court is led by a presidentti.
Judges of the Circuit Court are titled His/Her Honour Judge Surname and are addressed in Court as Judge. Before 2006, they were addressed as My Lord ( A thiarna) .
Judges of the District Court are titled Judge Surname and addressed in Court as Judge. Before 1991 these judges were known as District Justices and addressed as Your Worship ( d'Onóra).
Judges of the High Court and Court of Appeal are addressed (when sitting in those courts) as "My Lord" or "My Lady" and referred to as "Your Lordship" or "Your Ladyship".
Judges of the Court of Appeal, also called Lords Justice of Appeal, are referred to as "Lord Justice N" or "Lady Justice N". In legal writing, Lords Justices of Appeal are afforded the post nominal letters "LJ": for example, Smith LJ.
When a Justice of the High Court who is not present is being referred to they are Mr Justice as "Mr./Mrs./Ms. Justice N." In legal writing, the post-nominal letter "J" is used to denote a Justice (male or female) of the High Court; for example, a Justice Smith is referred to as Smith J. Unlike American English, no comma is used to offset the letter J from the Justice's name. The full stop after the preceding examples terminates the sentence, not the abbreviation, and the abbreviation can be used mid-sentence in prose in formal legal writing. Masters of the EWHC are addressed as "Master". Insolvency and Companies Court judges in the High Court are addressed as "Judge".
Circuit judges and recorders are addressed as "Your Honour". Circuit judges are referred to as "His/Her Honour Judge N". In writing, this title is occasionally abbreviated as "HHJ" or "HH Judge N", but not in legal writing. District judges and tribunal judges are addressed as "Sir/Madam".
Magistrates are usually still addressed as "Your Worship" in much of England. Magistrates are also addressed as "Sir/Madam".
Justices of the peace in justice of the peace courts are addressed and referred to as "Your Honour".
In Northern Ireland, the equivalent to a circuit judge is a county court judge, and they are addressed and titled the same way as a circuit judge is in England and Wales. The senior county court judges assigned to the county court divisions of Belfast and Derry have the titles of Recorder of Belfast and Recorder of Londonderry (or Derry) respectively, but are addressed the same as other county court judges. A district judge sitting in the County Court is addressed as "Your Honour".
A district judge (magistrates' court) is addressed as "Your Worship". A lay magistrate, in cases where they are present, is also addressed as "Your Worship", and may use the post-nominals "LM", e.g. "John Smith LM".
Generally, it is only appropriate to use the term "judge" when speaking of an anonymous or general position, such as "the trial judge", or when referring to a member of an inferior or provincial court such as the Ontario Court of Justice. The exception is Citizenship Judges who are referred to only as "Judge 'Surname in accordance with their appointment as independent decision makers of the Citizenship Commission.
Like other members of the Commonwealth, a justice of the peace is addressed as "Your Worship", and a Master of a Superior Court is referred to as "Master". As of December 7, 2018, Ontario Court Masters are addressed in English as "Your Honour" and in French as "Votre Honneur" and no longer as "Master".
The judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the judges of the supreme courts of several US states and other countries are called "justices". Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States and Justices of other courts are addressed as "Justice (name)". The Chief Justice of the United States is formally addressed as "Mr. or Madam Chief Justice" but also may be identified and addressed as "Chief Justice (name)".
Regardless of the specific term employed (judge or justice), the formal title is reduced to the postnominal abbreviation "J." in and certain case law Law report when it is necessary to identify the author of a cited opinion. In American English, the postnominal "J." is always divided from the judge's name by a comma and a space, so that a citation to a dissenting opinion by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia would warn that the cited opinion is not the majority opinion with the parenthetical notation "Scalia, J., dissenting". The plural form is JJ. Unlike British English, this abbreviation style is used only in case citations, and is not used mid-sentence in regular prose (as distinguished from case citations dropped into sentences as parentheticals). Thus, a prose sentence discussing the actual contents of a dissenting opinion right before a case citation to that opinion would refer to the reasoning of "Justice Scalia", not "Scalia, J."
The justices of the supreme courts usually hold higher offices than any other judges in a jurisdiction, including a justice of the peace, a judge who holds police court in some and who may also try small claims and . However, the State of New York inverts this usual order. The initial trial court in this state is called the Supreme Court of New York, and its judges are called "justices". The next highest appellate court is the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, whose judges are also called "justices". However, the highest court in New York is called the New York Court of Appeals, whose members are called "judges".
Judges in certain jurisdictions, such as New York and New Jersey, who deal with guardianships, trusts and estates are known as "Surrogate Court".
A senior status, in US practice, is a retired judge who handles selected cases for a governmental entity while in retirement, on a Part-time job basis.
Subordinate or inferior jurisdiction judges in US legal practice are sometimes called , although in the federal judiciary of the United States, they are called magistrate judges. Subordinate judges in US legal practice who are appointed on an ad hoc case-by-case basis, particularly in cases where a great deal of detailed and tedious evidence must be reviewed, are often called "masters" or "special masters".
Judges of courts of specialized jurisdiction (such as or ) were sometimes known officially as "", but the use of this title is in decline. Judges sitting in courts of equity in common law systems (such as judges in the equity courts of Delaware) are called "".
Individuals with judicial responsibilities who report to an executive branch official, rather than being a part of the judiciary, are often called "administrative law judges" (ALJs) in US practice. Historically, such officials were previously known as hearing examiners or referees before American English settled on the ALJ title. They commonly make initial determinations regarding matters such as workers' compensation, eligibility for government benefits, regulatory matters, and immigration determinations.
Judges who derive their authority from a contractual agreement of the parties to a dispute, rather than a governmental body, are called . They typically do not receive the honorific forms of address nor do they bear the symbolic trappings of a publicly appointed judge. However, it is now common for many retired judges to serve as arbitrators, and they will often write their names as if they were still judges, with the parenthetical "(Ret.)" for "Retired".
Unlike many civil law countries which have some courts on which panels of judges with nearly equal status composed of both legally trained professional judges and lay judges who lack legal training and are not career judges, the United States legal system (like most Anglo-American legal systems) makes a clear distinction between professional judges and laypeople involved in deciding a case who are jurors who are part of a jury. Most but not all US judges have professional credentials as lawyers. Non-lawyer judges in the United States are often elected, and are typically either justices of the peace or part-time judges in rural limited jurisdiction courts. A non-lawyer judge typically has the same rights and responsibilities as a lawyer who is a judge holding the same office and is addressed in the same manner.
The title for most puisne judges is "Justice", which is abbreviated in law reports to a postnominal "J", in the form "Surname J". Chief Justices of the High Court and of state Supreme Courts are titled "Chief Justice", which is abbreviated in law reports to a postnomial "CJ". Judges in State Supreme Courts with a separate Court of Appeal division (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia) are referred to as Justices/Judges of the Appeal (abbreviated "Surname JA"), while the President of the Court of Appeal is referred to as "President" (abbreviated "Surname P").New South Wales Supreme Court, Addressing Judicial Officers
Judges of the International Criminal Court are referred to as "judge".
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