Judge - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition judge

Definition :

Judge [fr. juge, Fr.; judex, Lat.], one invested with authority to determine any cause or question in a Court of judicature. The word 'judge' denotes not only every person who is officially designated as a judge but also every person who is empowered by law to give, in any legal proceeding, civil or criminal, definitive judgment, or a judgment which, if not appealed against, would be definitive, or a judgment which, is confirmed by some other authority, would be definitive or who is one of a body of persons which body of persons is em-powered by law to give such a judgement (Indian Penal Code, 1860, s. 19)

To secure the dignity and political independence of the judges of the Supreme Court, it is enacted by s. 5 of the (English) Jud. Act, 1875 (replaced by Jud. Act, 1925, s. 12), repeating in effect a provision of the Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Wm. 3, c. 2), that the judges of the Supreme Court (with the exception of the Lord Chancellor, who goes out with the Ministry) shall hold their office during good behaviour, subject to a power of removal by the Crown on an address by both Houses of Parliament; prior to the Act of Settlement, they held office during the pleasure of the Crown. They may not sit in the House of Commons.

The qualification is, by (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 9, replacing s. 8 of the Judicature Act, 1873, ten years' standing at the Bar for a judge of the High Court of Justice, and fifteen years' standing at the Bar or one year's service as a judge of the High Court for a judge of the Court of Appeal. Prior to the Judica-ture Acts, judges of the superior Courts of Common Law (superseded by the High Court of Justice) had to be serjeants-at-law (see that title), and any sergeant-at-law might be appointed judge. The appointment is by the sovereign by letters-patent. Fifteen years' service as a judge, or dis-ability by permanent infirmity, entitles to a pension by (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 14, replacing s. 14 of the Act of 1873.

By (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 4, in the Chancery (English) Division of the High Court there are, in addition to the Lord Chancellor, six judges, and in the King's Bench Division, in addition to the Lord Chief Justice, there are nineteen judges, two having been added by the (English) Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Act, 1935 (25 Geo. 5, c. 2), s. 1. In the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division there is the President and two judges. In the Court of Appeal, in addition to the Master of the Rolls, there ae five Lords Justices. The Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, and the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division are ex officio judges of the Court of Appeal.

The county Court judges are appointed, under (English) County Courts Act, 1934, s. 4, replacing s. 8 of the (English) County Courts Act, 1888, by the Lord Chancellor, their number being limited to sixty, the qualification being at least seven years' standing at the Bar. For 'inability or misbehaviour' they are removable by the Lord Chancellor. See COUNTY COURTS.

No action lies against a judge for anything said or done in his judicial capacity; but if a judge act without jurisdiction he may be made to answer for the consequences of his acts, Anderson v. Gorrie, (1895) 1 QB 671; Scott v. Stansfield, (1868) LR 3 Ex 220. In the latter case the defendant had said to the plaintiff (an accountant and scrivener), while trying a case in which he was defendant, 'You are a harpy, preying on the vitals of the poor,' and it was held that no action lay. If a judge has a personal interest in the action, he is incapacitated from officiating, on the principle that Nemo debet esse-judex inpropria sua causa, unless the parties agree that he should decide the cause. See Dimes v. Grand Junction Canal Co., (1852) 3 HLC 759; but this incapacity, where it arises from an interest as one of several rate payers only, is abolished by the Jurisdiction in Rating Act,1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 11), and also by s. 304 of the Public Health Act, 1936. See INTEREST.

The following are the chief maxims relating to judges:-

Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur. (The judge is condemned when a guilty person escapes punish-ment.) This is taken from Publish Syrus, a Roman poet of the first century, and is the motto of the Edinburgh Review.

Judicis est jus dicere non dare.--Lofft, 42. (It is the duty of a judge to declare, not to make law.)

Nemo debet esse judex in prompria causa.--(No man ought to be judge inhis own cause.) Earl of Derby's case, 12 Rep. 114.

De fide et officio judicis non recipitur qu'stio, sed de scientia sive sit error juris sive facti.--Bac. Max. 17. (The good faith and honesty of purpose (so Bouvier, Law Dict., but Broom has it 'the honesty and integrity') of a judge cannot be questioned, but his knowledge, whether of law or fact, can.) Bacon's own paraphrase is: 'The law doth so much respect the certainties of judgment, and the credit and authorities of judges as it will not permit any error to be assigned that impeached them in their trust and office, and in wilful abuse of the same, but only in ignorance, and mistaking either of the law or of the case in matter of fact.'

A Judge, de facto is one who is not a mere intruder or usurper but one who holds office, under colour of lawful authority, though his appointment is defective and may later be found to be defective. Whatever be the defect of his title to the office, judgments pronounced by him and Acts done by him when he was clothed with the powers and functions of the office, albeit unlawfully, have the same efficacy as judgments pronounced and Acts done by a judge de jure. Such is the de facto doctrine, born of necessity and public policy to prevent needless confusion and endless mischief, Gokaraju Rangaraju v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1981 SC 1473: (1981) 3 SCC 132.

Judge means the Judge or, as the case may be, the Principal Judge, Additional Principal Judge or other Judge of a Family Court. [Family Courts Act, 1984 (66 of 1984), s. 2(a)]

Judge means the presiding officer of a Civil Court. [Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, s. 2(8)]

Judge, section 2(29) of the Bombay Provincial Muni-cipal Corporations Act, 1949, defines the word 'Judge' as: 'the Judge' means in the City of [Pune] the Judge of the Court of Small Causes, and in any other city the Civil Judges (Senior Division) having jurisdiction in the city', Dayaram Tulshiram Rajguru v. Mamasaheb, AIR 1999 Bom 72 [See also Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 (59 of 1949), ss. 16(3), 2(29), 403(4)].