Justice (title)

''Justice'' ( abbreviation: ame ''J.'' and other variations) is an honorific style and title traditionally used to describe a jurist who is currently serving or has served within a supreme court or some equal position. In some countries, a justice may have had prior experience as a judge or may have been appointed with no prior judicial experience. It is predominantly used today within the United States to delineate between those who serve on the Supreme Court of the United States from judges who serve on a lower court. Other countries, such as New Zealand and India, similarly use the title as a form of address regarding members of their supreme court.

Etymology

The title of ''justice'' is derived from the Latin root ''jus'' (sometimes spelled ''ius'') meaning something which is associated with law or is described as just. It is different from the word ''judge'' in that different suffixes were added to form both words, and that the usage of the term ''justice'' predates that of ''judge''. It first appeared in the year 1137, within the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, nearly 200 years before the first appearance of ''judge''. The term ''justice'' developed over time to incorporate a meaning different than that of a ''judge'' with the difference continuing after the period of Middle English.

The earliest record using the word ''justice'' to describe an official appears in ''La Vie de Saint Thomas Becket'', a French biography of Saint Thomas of Canterbury written in 1172. Its usage of the word ''justice'' referred to a judge in the service of the King of France. These early justices were members of French high society and were primarily administrators rather than those with formal training in the legal affairs.Boatright, p. 739.

Usage

United States

The United States Supreme Court consists of eight associate justices, headed by one chief justice. Each are titled ''justice'' whereas judges on the district courts and courts of appeals are called ''judge''.Boatright, p. 742. Though those appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court are usually lawyers, there is no requirement to be a judge or to have any prior experience serving in a lower court. A current example of this is Justice Elena Kagan, who served as a U.S. Solicitor General and was the Dean of Harvard Law School prior to her appointment in 2010.

Within state courts, those who serve on the highest appellate court are likewise called justices, whereas those who serve on lower courts are judges. In most states, they are legally designated as justices, rather than as judges, with the only exception being Texas, where the title is divided between a civil and criminal court. Judges on a state's lower courts are also legally designated, with the exception being only a few states.

See also

* Chief justice
* Associate justice
* Justice of the peace
* Supreme Court of the United States
* Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

References

Sources

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* {{Cite book , title=Oxford English Dictionary , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=1989 , isbn=0198612206 , edition=2nd

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