An adjudicator is someone who presides,
judge
A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
s, and
arbitrates during a formal
dispute or
competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...
. They have numerous purposes, including preliminary
legal judgment
In law, a judgment is a decision of a court regarding the rights and liabilities of parties in a legal action or proceeding. Judgments also generally provide the court's explanation of why it has chosen to make a particular court order.''Black’ ...
s, to determine applicant eligibility, or to assess contenders' performance in competitions.
Types
Arbiters
An example is a person who makes a preliminary
judgment
Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of given circumstances to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions.
In an informal context, a judgement is opinion expressed as fact. In the context of a legal trial ...
as to an
unemployment insurance claim. An adjudicator makes an initial decision to keep a case from going to court. Although the adjudicator's decision does not have legal weight, the adjudicator has rendered a decision. Although a case can be appealed to a judge, the adjudicator's decision is frequently accepted as the same as what a judge would make, keeping many time-consuming cases out of the court system.
Decision-making panels
The term is used to refer to a panel of judges in the process of considering
security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
s for the United States government. The panel reviews information from a
background investigation and a
polygraph and decides whether to grant the clearance. Adjudicators can be a medical review board that makes
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...
and retirement benefit decisions for Federal employees and military personnel. Adjudicators also exist for immigration benefits.
Official evaluations
An adjudicator (often referred to as a "judge", "umpire", "arbiter", or more archaically as a "daysman"
[
]), is a person who gives a critical evaluation of performances in
competitions, festivals or
talent shows, resulting in the award of marks, medals or prizes.
In
BP debate, an adjudicator
weighs arguments and decides rankings in the house. There are different types of adjudicators, each with their respective duties and levels of authority: chair, panelist, and trainee. In the event that the chair is the chief adjudicator of the tournament, they are referred to as "Speaker".
References
Sources
* Adjudicators Field Manual, United States Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services
{{Authority control
Legal professions
Scots law general titles
Law of the United Kingdom