1. Types of Judges
Inferior and Superior
By Mrs Hilton

2. Overview
 Inferior judges:
 Circuit Judges
 District judges
 Recorders
 Superior Judges:
 High Court Judges
 Lord Justices of Appeal

3. Circuit
Judges
Inferior
Judges
District
Recorders
judges

4. High
Court
Judges
Superior
Judges
Lord
Justices
of appeal

5. Superior profile: High Court Judges
The 106 High Court judges

currently appointed in
England and Wales deal
with the more complex and
difficult cases.
High Court judges usually sit

in London, but they also
travel to major court centres
around the country as well
as sitting in London.
They try serious criminal

cases, important civil cases
and assist the Lord Justices
to hear criminal appeals.
High Court judges are given
the prefix 'the honourable',
and referred to as 'Mr/Mrs
Justice surname '.

6. High court judges: Where they sit
High Court judges are

assigned to one of the
three divisions of the
High Court - the
Chancery Division, the
Queen's Bench and the
Family Division.
Also known as Puisne Judges,
Which means inferior in rank.
(Pronounced Puny!)

7. High Court: Queen’s Bench Division
The Queen's Bench

deals with contract and
tort (civil wrongs),
judicial reviews and
libel, and includes
specialist courts: the
Commercial Court, the
Admiralty Court and the
Administration Court.
The Queen's Bench
consists of about 60
judges, headed by the
Lord Chief Justice.

8. High court: Chancery Division
The Chancery Division deals

with company law, partnership
claims, conveyancing, land
law, probate, patent and
taxation cases, and consists of
17 High Court judges, headed
by the Chancellor of the High
Court. BUT!! In reality is
headed by the vice Chancellor
so that a politician is not sitting
at court.
The division includes three

specialist courts: the
Companies Court, the Patents
Court and the Bankruptcy
Court.
Chancery Division judges

normally sit in London, but also
hear cases in Cardiff, Bristol,
Birmingham, Manchester,
Liverpool, Leeds and
Newcastle.

9. High Court: Family Court division
The Family Division,

which deals with family
law and probate cases,
consists of about 15
judges headed by the
President of the Family
Division.

10. Superior Profiles - Court of Appeal Judges
The Court of Appeal is based at the Royal Courts of Justice in

London, but has occasional sittings elsewhere in England and
Wales.
It consists of a Civil Division and a Criminal Division, which

between them hear appeals in a wide range of cases covering
civil, family and criminal justice.
In some cases a further appeal lies, with leave, to the House of

Lords, but in practice the Court of Appeal is the final court of
appeal for the great majority of cases.

11. Heads of Division
1
The judges of the Court of 

Appeal are the “Heads of
Division”
the Lord Chief Justice of
1.
2

England and Wales,
the Master of the Rolls,
2.
the President of the Queen‟s
3.
Bench Division,
3

the President of the Family
4.
Division
the Chancellor of the High
5.
Court) 4

the Lords Justices of
6.
Appeal, whose title is
“Lord/Lady Justice.
5

What do you notice about the judges?
6.


12. The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and
Records of the Chancery of England
Known as the Master of the Rolls, is the third most
senior judge of England and Wales, the Lord
Chancellor of Great Britain traditionally being first
and the Lord Chief Justice second. With the
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 removing the Lord
Chancellor from the judiciary and designating the
Lord Chief Justice head of the judiciary in England
and Wales, the Master of the Rolls may be said to
rank after him and the Senior Law Lord, who will
take the title President of the Supreme Court.
The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the
Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and since the
2005 reforms is known as the Head of Civil Justice.

13. Master of the Rolls cont...
The title of the office derives

from the fact that originally, the
office-holder was a clerk
responsible for keeping the
quot;Rollsquot;, or records, of the
Chancery court. The post
eventually evolved into a
judicial one, but the Master still
retained his clerical functions
The present Master of
by serving as the nominal head
of the Public Record Office up the Rolls is Sir Anthony
until 1958. However the Public Clarke, who succeeded
Records Act of that year Lord Phillips of Worth
transferred responsibility for the Matravers, now Senior
PRO from the Master of the
Lord of Appeal in
Rolls to the Lord Chancellor.
Ordinary, on 1 October
The Master of the Rolls is also

2005.
responsible for registering
solicitors, who are officers of
the Supreme Court.

14. Court of Appeal Civil division 1
The Civil Division hears

appeals from the High
Court, county courts and
certain tribunals such as
the Employment Appeal
Tribunal and the
Immigration Appeal Retired Gurkha soldiers salute a
Tribunal. Its President is photograph of Queen Elizabeth II
outside the Asylum and Immigration
the Master of the Rolls. Tribunal on April 15, 2008 in London.
The Tribunal is hearing an appeal by
Cases are generally heard 15 British Army Gurkha soldiers over
by three the Government's refusal to allow
them to settle in the United Kingdom.
judges, consisting of any Gurkhas who retired before July 1997
are automatically allowed to stay, but
combination of the Heads 2000 soldiers in Nepal have been
refused the right of settlement in the
of Division and Lords UK.
Justices of Appeal.

15. Court of Appeal - Civil Division 2
The Civil Division of the Court of Appeal hears

appeals from all Divisions of the High Court and, in
some instances from the County Courts and certain
tribunals. The Civil Division is presided over by the
Master of the Rolls, the Right Hon Sir Anthony
Clarke.
Bringing an appeal is subject to obtaining

„permission‟, which may be granted by the court
below or, more usually, by the Court of Appeal itself.
Applications for permission to appeal are commonly
determined by a single Lord Justice, full appeals by
two or three judges. The Civil Division of the Court
Appeal also deals with family cases.

16. Court of appeal – Criminal Division
The Criminal Division

hears appeals from the
Crown Court. Its
President is the Lord
Chief Justice.
Again, cases are

generally heard by three
judges, consisting of the
Lord Chief Justice or the
President of the Queen‟s
Bench Division or one of
the Lords Justices of
Appeal, together with two
High Court Judges or one
High Court Judge and one
specially nominated
Senior Circuit Judge.

17. What else do Lords Justices of Appeal do?
The Heads of Division

and Lords Justices of
Appeal also sit on
occasion with one or
more High Court Judges
in the Divisional
Court, which hears
appeals to the High
Court from magistrates‟
courts and certain
judicial review cases at
first instance. Lord Justice Richards

18. Judicial Profiles - Circuit Judges
Some circuit judges

deal specifically with
criminal or civil
cases, while some are
authorised to hear
public and/or private law
family cases.
They can hear cases at

the Crown Courts or
County Courts
Mercantile: Concerned with the
There are 6 Circuits in

exchange of goods for profit
the UK.

19. Circuit judges
Some circuit judges

may be asked by the
Lord Chief Justice (the
head of the judiciary in
England and Wales) to
sit in the Criminal
Division of the Court of
Appeal.
There are currently over

600 circuit judges
throughout England and
Wales. Not him again!!!

20. Circuit judges - Where they sit
Circuit judges are

appointed to one of
six regions of
England and Wales
and sit in the
Crown and County
Courts within their
particular region.

21. How to become a circuit judge
Circuit judges must be lawyers who have held a 'right of

audience' (the right to appear in court as an advocate) for
at least ten years, and must also have served either part-
time as a recorder on criminal cases or full-time as
district judges on civil cases before they can be
appointed.
Some circuit judges have been appointed as senior

circuit judges, taking on additional responsibilities, for
example the running of the largest court centres.
They are appointed by The Queen, on the

recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, following a fair
and open competition administered by the Judicial
Appointments Commission.
Some judges sit part-time in retirement andspeaks on behalf of
An advocate is one who are known as

Deputy Circuit Judges. another person, especially in a legal context

22. Inferior Profiles - District Judges
The work of district

judges involves a wide
spectrum of civil and
family law cases such
as claims for damages
and
injunctions, possession
proceedings against
mortgage borrowers
and property
tenants, divorces, child
proceedings domestic
violence injunctions and
insolvency proceedings.

23. District judges - Where they sit
District judges are full-time judges who deal with the

majority of cases in the county courts.
They are assigned on appointment to a particular

circuit and may sit at any of the county courts or
district registries of the High Court on that circuit.
A district registry is part of the High Court situated in

various districts of England and Wales, dealing with
High Court family and civil business.
District registries are often co-located at county

courts when the District Judges sitting there will case
manage High Court cases.

24. How to become a District Judge
District judges are

appointed by The
Queen, following a fair
and open competition
administered by the
Judicial Appointment
Commission, and the
statutory qualification is a
seven-year right of
audience - the right of a
lawyer to appear and
speak as an advocate for In the autumn of 2009 the UK
a party in a case in the Supreme Court will take up
court - in relation to all residence in what is currently
proceedings in any part of Middlesex Guildhall Crown
the Supreme Court, or all Court.
proceedings in county
courts or magistrates'
courts.

25. Who gets to be a district judge?
The Lord Chancellor will

normally only consider
applicants who have
been serving Deputy
District Judges for two
years or who have
completed 30 sittings in
that capacity. There are
currently 434 District
Judges in post including
18 who sit in the Family
Used to be called Stipendiary Judges
Division of the High
Court in London.

26. Recorders
The position of recorder is

a fee paid post open to
any fully qualified solicitor
or barrister with at least
10 years practice before
the Crown or county
courts.
Recorders are appointed

by The Queen on the
recommendation of the
Lord Chancellor, after a
fair and open competition
administered by the
Judicial Appointments
Commission.
There are currently just

over 1,400 recorders in
post.

27. Recorders – where they sit
Recorders may sit in

both Crown and county
courts, but most start by
sitting in the crown
court. Their jurisdiction
is broadly similar to that
of a circuit judge, but
they will generally
handle less complex or
serious matters coming
before the court.

28. Recordership – where it leads
Recordership is often

the first step on the
judicial ladder to
appointment to the
circuit bench.
Appointments are for
five years, and are
usually automatically
extended by the Lord
Chancellor for further
successive terms of five
years.

29. What does a Recorder do?
Recorders are required

to manage cases
actively as well as to
determine claims at trial.
A recorder‟s duties

Jonathan Ferris
include assisting the Jonathan has more than 25 years
parties to prepare for experience as an advocate at trial and
all appellate levels. The principal
trial, presiding over focus of his work is in property
court proceedings and (especially landlord and
tenant), professional
delivering judgments in negligence, employment
both applications and law, insolvency and civil fraud, tracing
and asset recovery.
contested trials. Jonathan sits as a Recorder in both
criminal and civil jurisdictions. He sits
also as a chairman of the employment

30. Recorders are expected

to sit for at least fifteen
days a year but not
normally for more than
thirty days a year.
Recorders may choose
whether to count training
days as sitting days.
Newly appointed A Royal Warrant will then be
recorders have to attend a issued and the recorder‟s first
Judicial Studies Board week of sitting will be
supervised. Recorders also
residential Civil Induction attend periodical continuation
course and to sit in with a courses lasting two days
circuit judge for one week. every three years.

31. Judicial Studies Board
The JSB is directly responsible for training full and part-

time judges in England and Wales, and for overseeing
the training of Lay magistrates and chairmen and
members of Tribunals. An essential element of the
philosophy of the JSB is that the training of judges and
magistrates is under judicial control and directions. The
Judicial Studies Board was set up in 1979, following the
Bridge Report which identified the most important
objective of judicial training as being
quot;To convey in a condensed form the lessons, which

experienced judges, have acquired from their
experience...quot;.
This remains the essence of the JSB's role. A Circuit

Judge, currently Judge John Phillips, is seconded to the
JSB full-time as Director of Studies.

32. Recorders – Civil
Recorders Civil sit

as fee-paid judges
in county courts.
 Some Recorders
Civil may also be
authorised to
deputise for
specialist civil
Circuit Judges

33. Civil recorders
The statutory jurisdiction

of a Recorder is in general
identical to that of a
Circuit Judge, although
the usual practice is that
Recorders do not hear
appeals from District
Judges.
The jurisdiction covers

almost the whole field of
civil law and is mostly
concurrent with that of the
High Court. In addition, a
number of statutes confer
exclusive jurisdiction on
the county courts.

34. Recorder civil Cases
Cases listed

before a Recorder
Civil may include
disputes in the
fields of
housing, commerci
al landlord and
tenant, contract, to
rt and personal
injury.

35. Recorders
These are part time

judges
Good way for a solicitor or

a Barrister to get a taste
of the job
Good way for the Lord

Chancellor to gather data
on if they will make a
competent judge.
Position reviewed every 5

years
Spend some hours as a

judge rest being solicitor
or barrister

36. Civil Justice Revision 1
Civil justice in England

and Wales is mainly dealt
with in the county courts
and, in the case of more
complex cases, the High
Court.
The jurisdiction covers a

very wide range - from
quite small or simple
claims, for example
damaged goods or
recovery of debt, to large
claims between multi-
national companies.

37. Civil Justice Revision 2
Most civil disputes do not

end up in court, and those
that do often don‟t go to a
full trial.
Many are dealt with

through mediation or by
using established
complaints procedures.
But where a case does go
through the courts, the
aim is to make it as simple
as possible.
For smaller claims there is

a speedy and cheap way
of resolving disputes -
through the small claims
court.

38. Civil Justice Revision 3
Judges in the civil

jurisdiction do not have
the power to imprison a
losing party.
Ordinarily, but not

always, they award
financial 'damages' to
the successful party, the
size of which depends
on the circumstances of
the claim.

39. Task
Read the notes on Judges and create a mindmap of

the Judiciary