JUDEX (Lat.). /n Roman Law. One who, either in his own right or by appoint ment of the magistrate for the special case, judged causes.
Thus, the pewter formerly called judex. But, generally, prastoYs and magistrates who judge of their own right are distinguished from judices, who are private persons, appointed by the praetor, on applioation of the plaintiff, to try the cause, as soon as issue is joined, and furnished by him with instruc tions as to the legal principles involved. They were variously called judieee delegate, or pedavei, or speciales. They resemble in many respects jurors: thus, both are private persons, brought in at a cer tain stage of the proceedings, viz., issue joined, to try the cause, under instructions from the judge as to the law of the case. But civilians are not clear whether the judicee had to decide the fact alone, or the law and fact. The judex resembles in many respects the arbitrator, or arbiter, the chief differ ences being, first, that the latter is appointed in cases of trust and confidence, the former in cases where the relations of the parties are governed by strict law (in pactionibue atrietie); second, the latter has the whole control of case, and decides according to equity and good conscience, the former by strict formulas ; third, that the latter may he a magis trate, the former must be a private person ; fourth, that the award of the arbiter derives its force from the agreLment of submission, while the decree of the paler has its sanction in the command of the praetor to try the coup. Calvinus, Lex.; 1 Spence,
Eq. Jur. 210, note; Mackeldey, Civ. Law, Kauf Mann ed. 0 193, note.
There was generally one judex, sometimes three,—in which case the decision of two, in the absence of the third, had no effect. Cal vinus, Lex. Down to the time of handing over the cause to the judex, that is, till issue joined, the proceedings were before the prae tor, and were said to be in jute; after that, before the judex, and were said to be in fuel& cio. In all this we see the germ of the An glo-Saxon system of judicature. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 67.
In Civil Law. A judge who conducts the trial from beginning to end ; magistra tus. The practice of calling in judices was disused before Justinian's time: therefore, in the Code, Institutes, and Novels, judex means judge in its modern sense. Heinec cius, Elena. Jur. Civ. 1327.
In Old English Law. A juror. Spel man, Gloss. A judge, in modern sense, espe cially—as opposed•to justiciarius, i.e. a com mon-law judge—to denote an ecclesiastical judge. Bracton, fol. 401, 402.