Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility and arguments of the parties, and then issues a ruling in the case based on their interpretation of the law and their own personal judgment. A judge is expected to conduct the trial impartially and, typically, in an open court.
The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. 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.
Powers and functions
The ultimate task of a judge is to settle a legal dispute in a final and publicly lawful manner in agreement with substantial partialities. Judges exercise significant governmental power. They can order police, military, or judicial officials to carry out searches, arrests, imprisonments, garnishments, detentions, seizures, deportations, and similar actions. However, judges also supervise trial procedures to ensure consistency and impartiality and to prevent arbitrariness. A judge’s powers are checked by higher courts, such as courts of appeal and supreme courts.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, 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 summary judgments without proceeding to a jury trial. In an inquisitorial system, 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. 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 lay judges. 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 law clerks, referendaries and notaries in legal cases and by bailiffs or similar with security.
Requirements and appointment
There are both volunteer and professional judges. A volunteer judge, such as an English magistrate, is not required to have legal training and is unpaid. Whereas, a professional judge is required to be legally educated; in the U.S., this generally requires a degree of Juris Doctor. Furthermore, significant professional experience is often required; for example, in the U.S., judges are often appointed from experienced attorneys. Judges are often appointed by the head of state. However in some jurisdictions, judges are elected in a political election.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.
Judge as an occupation
Judges must be able to research and process extensive lengths of documents, witness testimonies, and other case material, understand complex cases and possess a thorough understanding of the law and legal procedure, which requires excellent skills in logical reasoning, analysis and decision-making. Excellent writing skills are also a necessity, given the finality and authority of the documents written. Judges work with people all the time; by the nature of the job, good dispute resolution and interpersonal skills are a necessity. Judges are required to have good moral character, i.e. there must be no history of crime. Professional judges often enjoy a high salary, in the U.S. the median salary of judges is $101,690 per annum, and federal judges earn $208,000–$267,000 per annum.Gender effects
In many civil law countries in Europe the majority of judges are women: in 6 countries women make more than 70% of judges of the first instance. In contrast, in common law countries the situation is reverse: over 70% of judges of the first instance are men.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.
Age and retirement
In the United States, federal judges are appointed "for good behavior", which means in practice, that federal judges work until they die, voluntarily retire or are impeached. 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.
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.
Abbreviations
The abbreviation "JJ" or "JJ." is often used as an abbreviation for the plural form of judges or justicesIn Australia, additional abbreviations used for various types of judges include:
- JJ
- CJ
- ACJ
- FM
- JA
- DCJ
Symbols of office
American judges frequently wear black robes. American judges have ceremonial gavels, 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 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, 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.
Titles and forms of address
Asia
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, court proceedings are conducted in either English or Hong Kong Cantonese. Judges of Hong Kong retain many of the English traditions such as wearing wigs and robes in trials.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, 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".
India
In India, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts were addressed as Your Lordship or My Lord and Your Ladyship or My Lady, a tradition directly attributable to England. The Bar Council of India had adopted a resolution in April 2006 and added a new Rule 49 in the Advocates Act. As per the rule, lawyers can address the court as Your Honour and refer to it as Honourable Court. If it is a subordinate court, lawyers can use terms such as sir or any equivalent phrase in the regional language concerned. Explaining the rationale behind the move, the Bar Council had held that the words such as My Lord and Your Lordship were "relics of the colonial past". The resolution has since been circulated to all state councils and the Supreme Court for adoption but over five years now, the resolution largely remained on paper.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.