JUDGE (from the French judge, which 1.3 from the Latin jades), is a man who presides in a court duly constituted, declares the law in all matters that are tried before him, and pronounces tire sentence or judgment of the law. There are judges of the three Superior Courts of Law at Westminster, judges in the Courts of Equity, judges in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts, and in the County and other courts. Some judges are called recorders, and there are other names, but the name does not alter the nature of the office. When "the judges " simply are spoken of, the judges of the superior courts of common law are meant.
The judges of the superior courts are appointed by the crown. They hold their office during good behaviour, and can only be removed by the crown on the address of both houses of parliament (13 Wm. III. c. 2). Formerly their commissions ceased upon the demise of the crown, but by the 1 Geo. III. c. 23, they continue to hold their office during good behaviour notwithstanding any demise of the crown, and their.' salaries are secured to them so long as they hold their office.
By various acts of parliament retiring pensions of a determinate amount may be granted to the judges of the superior courts of law, awl to the judges in equity. But to be entitled to the pension the judge must have held the office for fifteen years, unless bad health has prevented them from holding office so long.
Jndges of courts of record [Comers] are not liable to prosecution for anything done by them as judges. Nor aro they liable to an action for any error in judgment or for wrongful imprisonment, at least when they are acting within their jurisdiction. Judges are punishable for bribery, by loss of office, fine, and imprisonment.
The powers and duties of judges would form the subject of an elaborate treatise. It may be sufficient to observe that in England the
judges of the superior courts are so well protected in the discharge of their duty and so sure in their office, as to make them entirely inde pendent of all political and private influence, and they are paid well enough to secure them against all temptation of lucre. Accordingly an instance of misconduct in any judge of the superior courts of law, or any judge who.holds a high office, is now seldom or never heard of. The only question that can be raised is, whether the most competent persons are always appointed, and whether persons are not sometimes appointed who, though not absolutely incompetent, are much lees com petent than others, and sometimes hardly competent. The danger is somewhat lessened by the operation of public opinion, and also of the opinion of the bar, so that the risk of a totally incompetent person being appointed is not great. The press in this way exercises a whole some but by no means sufficient check on the Lord Chancellor, by whom nearly all the judges are now appointed. It would be impossible, not withstanding any burst of public or professional complaint, for any chancellor, however much he might wish to shape his conduct to gain public approbation, to recal an appointment, and a judge, once in office, could not well, by resigning, admit the justice of the animadversions made on his appointment. The evil thus necessarily incident to the possession of unlimited patronage by the chancellor, and to which public attention has been recently called, is inseparable from the practical working of the constitution, and is probably a much less evil than any other mode of appointment that could be suggested.