In England and Wales, from 1846 to 1971, a county court judge was a judge appointed under the terms of the County Courts Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 95) to sit in the county courts. Each county court judge was assigned to a county court circuit.
They were initially appointed by the Lord Chancellor; after the enactment of the Administration of Justice Act 1956, they were directly appointed by the Queen.
Their salary was initially £1,000. In 1852, a differential salary scheme was introduced whereby judges were paid £1,500, £1,350, or £1,200. In 1867, their salaries were uniformly set to £1,500. In 1937, it was raised to £2,000, and in 1952 it was raised to £2,800. Thereafter it was regularly adjusted upwards, up to £6,550 in 1969.
From 1884, they were given the style of "His Honour" while in office. In 1919, they were given the right to continue to use the style after retirement by royal warrant, though they did not keep their places in the order of precedence after they retired.
They wore robes of purple and black, though they never had any official sanction and could not be worn at court functions.
Some county court judges received knighthoods; but a demand for automatic knighthoods after fifteen years' service was rejected.
The Courts Act 1971 made all county court judges circuit judges and ended further appointments of county court judges, heralding the end of a distinct county court bench.
The Courts Act 1971 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the purpose of which was to reform and modernise the courts system of England and Wales.
The United States circuit courts were the intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system from 1789 until 1912. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate jurisdiction over the United States district courts. The Judiciary Act of 1891 transferred their appellate jurisdiction to the newly created United States circuit courts of appeals, which are now known as the United States courts of appeals. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the circuit courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. district courts.
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and have served at least 10 years, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least 80 years. As long as senior judges carry at least a 25 percent caseload or meet other criteria for activity, they remain entitled to maintain a staffed office and chambers, including a secretary and their normal complement of law clerks, and they continue to receive annual cost-of-living increases. The president may appoint new full-time judges to fill the vacancies in full-time judgeships caused by senior status.
A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.
The Judiciary Act of 1869, formally An Act to amend the Judicial System of the United States and sometimes called the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, provided that the Supreme Court of the United States would consist of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, established separate judgeships for the U.S. circuit courts, and for the first time included a provision allowing federal judges to retire without losing their salary. This is the most recent legislation altering the size of the Supreme Court. The Act was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
The Supreme Court of Georgia is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Georgia. The court was established in 1845 as a three-member panel. Since 1896, the justices have been elected by the people of the state. The justices are currently elected in statewide non-partisan elections for six-year terms, with any vacancies filled through an appointment by the Governor.
Circuit judges are judges in England and Wales who sit in the Crown Court, the County Court and some specialized sub-divisions of the High Court of Justice, such as the Technology and Construction Court. There are currently over 600 circuit judges throughout England and Wales.
A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord Justice of Appeal is the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. Despite the title, and unlike the former Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, they are not peers.
There are various levels of judiciary in England and Wales—different types of courts have different styles of judges. They also form a strict hierarchy of importance, in line with the order of the courts in which they sit, so that judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales are given more weight than district judges sitting in county courts and magistrates' courts. On 1 April 2020 there were 3,174 judges in post in England and Wales. Some judges with United Kingdom-wide jurisdiction also sit in England and Wales, particularly Justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court and members of the tribunals judiciary.
A justice of the High Court, commonly known as a High Court judge, is a judge of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and represents the third-highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. High Court judges are referred to as puisne justices and wear red and black robes.
Addison Gardiner was an American lawyer and politician who served as the lieutenant governor of New York from 1845 to 1847 and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1854 to 1855.
Sir Alfred William Michael Davies was a British barrister who served as a High Court Judge from 1973 to 1991. He was one of the first judges appointed specifically to hear defamation cases, one of the few areas of civil law in England in which a jury remains the tribunal of fact, and was in charge of managing the list of libel cases from 1988 to 1991.
The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims, and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the newly created United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and United States Claims Court, which was later renamed the Court of Federal Claims.
The United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia was a United States federal court which existed from 1801 to 1863. The court was created by the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801.
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC for legal citation purposes.
The Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act of 1837 was a federal statute which increased the size of the Supreme Court of the United States from seven justices to nine, and which also reorganized the circuit courts of the federal judiciary. The newly created Eighth and Ninth circuits were designed to alleviate the judicial needs of newly-created western states. The Act became law on March 3, 1837, at the end of the Jackson administration.
Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Supreme Court of the United States shall hereafter consist of a chief justice, and eight associate judges, any five of whom shall constitute a quorum; and for this purpose there shall be appointed two additional justices of said court, with the like powers, and to take the same oaths, perform the same duties, and be entitled to the same salary, as the other associate judges.
Sir Edward Acton was an English barrister and judge. He had the distinction of being the first County Court judge to be appointed to the High Court of Justice.