A retired Lord/Lady of Appeal in the Ordinary Court or a judge of the Supreme Court will continue to be called Lord/Lady after retirement. The forms of address of judges vary from court to court, and some of them may seem quite archaic in the modern world. Traditional family cases are heard by a county or trial court and are heard by either a district judge, district judge or magistrate. Your case will be assigned by the court to a specific level of judge when your application is made. You can read more about each type of judge here. @CourtNewsUK Welcome 🙂 Have you heard of the Watford MC #ALS interpreter addressing the judge as “Your Majesty”? Bright. Potential lawyers are not the only ones making this mistake, and the Grimsby Telegraph yesterday reported a message from an accused at Grimsby Crown Court greeting Judge David Tremberg (pictured above) with the royal address. This is not the first time the court has experienced royal etiquette, with the document adding: How you approach the court may vary, depending on whether or not you use the vocative case (i.e. call the judge by name) or the accusative case (i.e.
instead of “you”). Every year, during the first advocacy sessions on the Bar Professional Education Course (BPTC) and the Legal Practice Course (LPC), there are wonderful moments when students reach the right term to address the imaginary judge – and say after an awkward pause. The following illustration shows how you can address someone who sits as a deputy judge of the District Court or Supreme Court. However, some confusion arises when a district judge also sits as a deputy judge of the High Court to hear a mixed list, i.e. certain cases before a county court and one case before the High Court. In these circumstances, it is the case itself that determines the type of greeting. If your case falls under a district court, contact the judge and say “Your Honour.” If it is a Supreme Court case, contact the judge as “My Lord/Lady.” Note, however, that if a High Court judge hears a case listed as a county court case, he or she must always be called “My Lord/Lady” and does not need to be demoted! Call them “Sir” or “Madame” in court or “your worship.” c) It is perfectly acceptable to combine the two greetings in one sentence. A few years ago, a very young lawyer appeared at the Old Bailey in a hearing with several more experienced lawyers. He was the last to turn to the judge, and his task should have been simple; While most of what he said made sense, he unfortunately turned to the judge several times.
This was a significant disadvantage, as every judge of the Crown Court has the right to be called “Your Honour” and, what is worse, anyone sitting as a judge in the Old Bailey has the right to be called “My Lord/Lady”. The judge said nothing, but sat there and smiled violently at the young lawyer. The lawyer finally realized something was going on, but couldn`t think about what until he noticed that the defense attorney sitting next to him was mumbling something. A retired Lord or Lady Justice of Appeal may be referred to in correspondence as “The Right Honourable Sir/Dame and begin the letter “Dear Sir / Dame”. In the case of the President of the Supreme Court (PSC) or the Vice-President of the Supreme Court (DPSC), it is sufficient to replace these titles with Supreme Court judges by addressing them in correspondence. and start with the letter “Dear President” or “Dear Vice-President”. If you`re unlucky, the judge won`t tell you anything about your blunderer, sit there and shine! Your chances of convincing the judge to rule in your client`s favor may decrease with each new example of trifle. As an inexperienced barrister, you will gain much of your first experience at the Magistrates` Court or County Court, so you will become accustomed to addressing the court as `Sir/Madam` or `Your Honour`. Problems can arise when you are sent to the High Court, and confusion can increase if you appear before a district judge who sits as a High Court judge! Lords Justices of Appeal are Privy Councillors.
They are officially known as Lord Justices. Fortunately, the Department of Justice website has a very useful list indicating that while magistrates may be called “Your Honour”, Crown Court judges as “Your Honour” and appeal judges as “My Lord” / “My Lady”, most judges are simply old “Sir” or “Madam”. Of course, some judges object to this and will soon let you know if they think your choice of title is inappropriate. You may find that their chosen response is to say, rather obscurely, “I can`t hear you, Miss Jones.” Your answer may simply be to speak louder, provided you speak too softly or the poor old judge is a little deaf! What they mean by that expression is not that they can`t hear you, but that they won`t hear you – sometimes you get a similar response when a judge thinks you`re dressed inappropriately for their court. In any case, we can advise you before which court and before which type of judge you are likely to appear, depending on your personal situation. District judges are full-time judges who handle most cases in the district courts of England and Wales and are therefore heavily involved in family proceedings. Sometimes you will be heard by a deputy district judge who sits for several days each year and works part-time. Whenever you act as a lawyer, you should always know how to properly address the person or persons appearing in court to decide legal and factual issues.
Using a wrong title is a possible sign of disrespect or inexperience. Most judges or magistrates won`t mind being called by a false title, so you may not realize until later, at that point, that you may upset the court. a) If the exact address of the sender is “Sir/Madam”, “Master” or “Your Honour”, there is no real difference between going to court in vocative or accusative cases. A retired district judge may be called in correspondence His Honour ” (add QC if necessary) and begin the letter “Dear Judge”. Another hybrid situation arises when it is necessary to see the judge in his or her private chamber, for example to request an indication of the sentence (for the limited circumstances in which this might be appropriate, see R v Turner [1970]2 QB 321). In this situation, you address the judge as a “judge.” Pingback: Which judges will hear my family law case? – Rainscourt Family Law Solicitors (b) However, there is a clear difference between the proper use of “My Lord/My Lady” when addressing the judge in a vocative sense. Use “Your Lordship/Lady” instead of “you”. Beware, potential lawyers, of imitating the defendant in Grimsby Crown Court by using the royal address to greet a judge. “If you look at the document marked `A,` Master, you will see that… ».
