Role or Function of a Judge

We have seen that a variety of judges exist and all, including magistrates, must take the judicial oath under the Promissory Oaths Act 1868:

"To do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will".

The oath sounds grand but tells us little about the various functions performed by judges in general.

A judge has been compared to an umpire, taking relatively little part in the trial itself but presiding over the proceedings, ensuring fair play between the parties concerned and controlling the trial with the aim of arriving at a decision based upon the facts as elicited through legal argument and the examination of witnesses and other evidence, by either side. Where there is a jury the judge has the added task of summarising the evidence on both sides of the case for the benefit of the jury, acquainting the jurors with the relevant law applicable to the facts and ultimately sending them away to reach a decision. On criminal cases the judge or magistrates will also pass sentence upon conviction of the accused.

We have so far looked at some of the tasks performed by judges. But what of the role of a judge as law-maker? Traditionally the view of an English judge is not to make law but to interpret it in accordance with existing principles. Parliament's role is to create law as our legislative body, the Judiciary enforces the law. However the judges are often faced with the interpretation of a statute and this interpretation can have dramatic results for many people.

Further to the Woolf report, the recommendations of which were implemented in 1999 by the Civil Procedure Rules, the judge has undertaken a further role under the ëCase Managementí proposals. Here the judge has been given responsibility for progressing cases through the system and will have among other things, the power to bring solicitors or barristers before the court for not making sufficient progress in bringing the case before the court. Training programmes are planned so that judges will receive the skills necessary to carry out this function.

- extract from Seneca EP copyright EMIS Professional Publishing and Authors 2001