JUDGE, in the widest legal sense an officer appointed by the sovereign power in a State to administer the law; in English prac tice, however, justices of the peace and magistrates are not usually regarded as "judges" in the titular sense. The duties of the judge, whether in a civil or a criminal matter, are to hear the statements on both sides in open court, to arrive at a conclusion as to the truth of the facts submitted to him or, when a jury is engaged, to direct the jury to find such a conclusion, to apply to the facts so found the appropriate rules of law, and to certify by his judgment the relief to which the parties are entitled or the obligations or penalties which they have incurred. With the judgment the of fice of the judge terminates, but the judgment sets in motion the executive whose duty it is to carry it into execution.
The following are points more specially characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon system : Judges of the supreme court are abso lutely protected from action for anything that they may do in the discharge of their judicial duties. "It is a principle of English law that no action will lie against a judge of one of the superior courts for a judicial act, though it be alleged to have been done maliciously and corruptly." Other judicial officers are also pro tected, though not to the same extent. (2) They are irremovable except by a resolution passed by both houses and assented to by the sovereign. The inferior judges and magistrates are removable
for misconduct by the lord chancellor. (3) The judiciary in Eng land is not a separate profession. The judges are chosen from the bar. (4) Judges of the supreme court (except the lord chief justice) and county court are in England nominated by the lord chancellor. In a few cases municipal corporations may appoint their own judicial officer.
See also LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR ; LORD CHIEF JUSTICE ; MASTER OF THE Roils, etc., etc. and the accounts of judicial systems under country headings.
The titles of "judge" and "justice" are applied in the United States to the members of courts of record of both original and appellate jurisdiction in both the Federal and State systems, the statute creating the court indicating which is the proper appella tion. Courts not of record have "justices of the peace" and "magistrates" and frequently the individuals holding these posi tions are popularly addressed as "judge." Members of the Federal judiciary and of a few of the State courts, such as New Jersey and Minnesota, are appointed by executive authority. In most of the States, such officials are elected by popular vote, although often the governors may make temporary appointments to fill vacancies.