History Main / TheJudge

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judge_7698.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[HangingJudge Thirty years prison, 570 hours community service]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking 40 Ave Marias]]. The hearing is closed! ''[[DropTheHammer *thwack*]]'']]

->'''Judge''': For now I am a Judge!\\
'''Chorus''': And a good Judge too.\\
'''Judge''': Yes, I am a Judge!\\
'''Chorus''': And a good Judge too!\\
'''Judge''': Though all my law is fudge,\\
Yet I'll never, never budge,\\
But I'll live and die a Judge!\\
'''Chorus''': And a good Judge too!
-->-- ''Theatre/TrialByJury''

Sooner or later, everyone winds up in front of The Judge.

If the part of a judge is a small role, it is generally filled by stern black women (with hair pulled tightly back) or gruff older white men. Sometimes these archetypes mix, leading to the stern, slightly below middle age black male or white female judge.

If there's a tribunal or other situation with more than one judge, both the stern black woman ''and'' the gruff older white man will usually appear, though a BaldBlackLeaderGuy is a distinct possibility. For example, Creator/CharltonHeston played the gruff older white man in one of the last episodes of the ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'', and there was also a stern black woman present.

It's been said that the above-average presence of black judges in popular media, particular American television is a sort of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad designed to show African-Americans in positions of authority. This is often a convenient WriterCopOut in shows that otherwise feature very few black characters of any importance.

Supertrope to the JudgeJuryAndExecutioner, who combines cop, judge and executioner all in one; HangingJudge, who always pursues conviction, almost always of the capital kind; and CircuitJudge, who moves within their jurisdiction rather than operate from a courtroom.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* The CourtroomEpisode of ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' has [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals one of the Kleins]] as the judge. He isn't too fond of Calvin's CourtroomAntics.
* In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', there's three of them manning the pre-trial panel for the changeling Queen: Lexy Fori (who's Equestrian, vengeful and entirely backing the prosecution), Jessica Suruma (who's Ugandan, phlegmatic and indecisively neutral) and Colm Mullan (who's Irish, jovial and well-disposed to the defence).

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'' had Creator/WhoopiGoldberg as Judge Cameo.
* Taken to the logical extreme with [[Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah Winfrey]] as the judge in ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has an stern, older woman as judge. [[spoiler:She gets killed by a car bomb]].
* In ''Film/TheHurricane'', [[OneSceneWonder The Judge]] appears memorably at the film's end with the trial.
* Judge Weaver in ''Film/AnatomyOfAMurder'' was played by Joseph N. Welch, a RealLife lawyer most famous for his TakeThat against Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy ("Have you no sense of decency, sir?") during the 1954 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army-McCarthy_hearings Army-McCarthy hearings.]] Welch joked that he took the movie role because it was the closest he'd ever come to being a judge.
* The murder trial in ''Film/MyCousinVinny'' has Judge Heller, a stern stickler for proper procedure who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court for failure to follow said procedures. Eventually, his irritation with Vinny leads him to overrule a perfectly valid objection to a SurpriseWitness.
* ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen'': She oversees Shelton's trial, and plays right into his plan. She's also something of a {{Hypocrite}}, such as answering her phone in a meeting with a lawyer she repeatedly chastised for leaving his phone on. [[spoiler:Her phone then explodes, killing her]].
* ''Film/PrimalFear'' has Judge Shoat, a no-nonsense black woman who oversees Aaron's trial.
* ''Film/IntolerableCruelty'' features a black woman judge. In defiance of the way these things usually play out, she is completely disinterested and her reaction to objections ranging from the absurd (poetry recital!) to the ludicrous (STRANGLING THE WITNESS!) is "I'll allow it."
* ''Film/PresumedInnocent'' has a black judge too, however he got a more prominent role in the plot than the usual. [[spoiler:He dismisses all the charges against the protagonist on the threat of being exposed as corrupt and a possible suspect in the very case he is attending]].
* ''Film/NothingButTrouble'' has its BigBad in the form of Judge Alvin Valkenheiser, a 106-year-old mad tinkerer who rules the backwoods town of Valkenvania with an iron grip. He's fond of overly-harsh punishments, ranging from indefinite detention for a traffic violation to punishing a group of drug-addled gangsters by sending them through his murderous roller coaster in his backyard, the Bonestripper. He's also a long-running SerialKiller, targeting "bankers"- basically anyone with more money than his family.
* ''Film/LiarLiar'' uses the Older Black Male flavor in the form of Judge Stephens, who permits Fletcher's curse-induced antics in his courtroom entirely out of "[[BileFascination sheer morbid curiosity.]]"

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Judge J.J. Ford, from the children's mystery novel ''Literature/TheWestingGame'', fits the stern black woman version of this trope perfectly. She does mention that she worked hard to be the first black or female judge in the state's history.
* In ''Literature/AndEternity'', Judge Roque is a pivotal character, first as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who helps a black prostitute. Later in the story, he takes on much greater importance.
* Pontiff (kind of a Judge-at-large) Farrow in [[Creator/CliveBarker Imajica]] is a wizened old woman.
* Randyll Tarly serves as a judge in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. While he is undeniably an asshole he seems to be a pretty good judge.
* ''{{The Stand}}'' has a character who was a former judge and everyone calls him The Judge as a nickname.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Miss Brooks appears before a judge in "Trial By Jury".
* One or more examples is visible in every episode of every series in the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise. Sometimes they fall into the "Stern Black Man" or "Stern White Woman" or (on occasion) "Stern Black Woman" castings, but the casting for judges was really quite eclectic (''L&O'' made a point of hiring local New York talent, so any actor of reasonable talent and reasonable age was likely to get a call).
** One notable recurring judge, Janice Goldberg, was played by journalist, satirist, and latter-day Creator/DorothyParker Fran Lebowitz. She was exactly as [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] as you'd expect.
* There was a TV Show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judge_(TV_series) The Judge,]]'' starring Robert Shield.
* ''Series/JudgeJudy'' is Caucasian, but certainly has the attitude right. MemeticMutation about her tends to be high. ("This just in, Judge Judy was just kicked off the New York City subway for being rude to passengers.")
* On ''Series/{{JAG}}'' there were several judges as recurring characters.
** Both Harm and Mac, under various circumstances, gets to serve on the bench in later seasons.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''':
** The first season episode "Dax" featured no-nonsense Bajoran judge Els Renora.
-> "I am one hundred years old. I do not have time to squander listening to superfluous language. In short, I intend to be in here until supper, not senility."
** Odo got Judge-like as the series got more and more Arc-ish.
* Both versions have appeared a couple of times on ''Series/{{CSI}}''.
* Averted in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', where the semi-recurring and somewhat bemused Judge Ping (presiding George Bluth's trial) is played by the Chinese American Creator/MichaelPaulChan.
* Generally averted on ''Series/ThePractice''. Most judges with recurring roles had physical oddities, semi-disruptive personality quirks, or both.
* ''Series/PicketFences'' featured judge Henry Bone. It's hard to find someone better fitting the description "gruff older white man" than Ray Walston without venturing into HangingJudge territory.
* Averted on ''Series/NightCourt'', where the judge is not only the main character but a happy-go-lucky young white guy.
* ''Series/{{Billions}}'', recurring character Judge Adam [=DeGiulio=], played by Creator/RobMorrow, is both a DeadpanSnarker and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
* ''This is Wonderland'' had many judges, being a courtroom drama and all. Perhaps the sternest of them was the African-''Canadian'' woman. There were two old white men, one of whom was the Mental Health Court judge and the [[NiceGuy Nicest Guy]] imaginable, although he [[BewareTheNiceOnes got pretty tough]] in Plea Court. The other was a [[BunnyEarsLawyer eccentric]] [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] JerkWithAHeartOfGold and a [[MonsterClown clown]] [[MoralityPet fixation]].
* On an episode of ''Series/AllInTheFamily,'' the fact that the judge is a stern black woman is a mild case of SamusIsAGirl, given that at [[TheSeventies the time,]] this sort of portrayal was not as common. It's a borderline example of an UnbuiltTrope.
* An episode of the Creator/RichardPryor CBS TV show ''Pryor's Place'' had a scene in which a young girl had to appear in Family Court. The woman who played the judge was named Rose Bird, who formerly was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. (She was voted out of office because of her opposition to the Death Penalty.)
* The episode of ''La caméra explore le temps'' dealing with the Courier of Lyons focuses on Judge Daubenton, who becomes obsessed with rehabilitating Lesurques after pushing for his death sentence. In the post-episode commentary, Alain Decaux highlights what Dubosc notes in the end, that is, Daubenton's tendency to pressure witnesses into confirming his latest theories (which leads to at least one new death sentence at each new trial).
* ''Series/HandOfGod'': Main character Pernell Harris is a state criminal court judge. He fits the gruff older white man model.

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[[folder: Music ]]

* The judge in ''Music/TheWall''. He's a LargeHam only appears in one song, but he is able to force [[JerkassWoobie Pink]], however reluctantly, into tearing down the wall he has built against all of outside society. Unlike most examples, he's not actually real, with the entire trial taking place inside Pink's mind.
* Finnish Rock musician "Tuomari" Nurmio (Judge Nurmio) calls himself as such because he is, in fact, a judge. Or rather, has the degree required to be one.
* Comedian Pigmeat Markham coined the late 60s phrase "Here Come de Judge!" which became a phrase on ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn''. He put out a 45 rpm single under that phrase with the B-side as "The Trial." He's hearing a nudist case, but he starts the trial off by giving ''himself'' six months.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional wrestling]]

* Wrestlers are the most important part of the show, but putting one in charge creates a conflict of interest. This role is commonly taken by a commissioner, board representative, matchmaker, general manager or company owner. They want fans to tune in or attend, so they cater to audience. A promoter shouldn't show open bias toward wrestlers fans like, that would be unprofessional, but one can level the playing field when a face is facing particularly unfair odd. Jim Crockett, Verne Gagne and Antonio Peña after retiring from the ring, Theodore Long as general manager, Wrestling/NigelMcGuinness after his retirement, they all count.
** This was sort of Wrestling/TheUndertaker's thing back when he was full-time, both in and out of the ring. He was the voice of the company in the locker room.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Religion]]
* King Solomon in Literature/TheBible served as a judge in addition to being a king. A memorable story involves two woman with a single child both claiming that the child is theirs and that the other woman stole their child when theirs died. Solomon declares that he will simply cut the child in half and give half to each of the mothers, which one of the mothers is horrified by and one is okay with. [[GuileHero Naturally Solomon declares that the concerned mother was the true one and gives her the living child.]]
** As the name implies, The Book of Judges in the Bible tells us stories about many of the tribe of Israel's judges, although the judges were more like village elders than conventional judges, and most of the stories in this book focus on military warfare instead of judicial stories.
** Prior to both of these, in Exodus Moses (a older "white"[[note]]actually probably kinda to decidedly brown, but of the dominant race and culture in that place and time[[/note]] male) "settl[ed] disputes among the people." His father-in-law watches him do this for a little while and basically tells him he's nuts for trying to do it all by himself and that he should appoint a number of trusted men as judges to take care of the simple cases and only refer the difficult ones to Moses for personal handling.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* ''Theatre/TrialByJury'', being a parody of the British legal system of the late 19th century, features a judge who is a greedy and power-hungry buffoon, and gleefully admits to committing and getting away with the same tort the defendant is accused of.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Eiki Shiki in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' is the judge of the dead. Her [[BossSubtitles boss subtitle]] is even ''Highest Judge of the Court of Paradise''.
* The nameless Judge and his brother (also a judge) from ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' and its sequels. He does not resemble the typical judge seen in Western fiction, as he is indecisive at times and is often very forgiving to the defense. The prosecution, however, can manipulate him very easily, often to the point of doing his job for him. Despite the fact that he's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} outright senile at times]], he's supposedly renowned as a fair judge who almost always hands down the right verdict.
** In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' Case 4, Edgeworth, during an investigation, gets to cross-examine ''the Judge himself''. HilarityEnsues, including Your Honor trying to deny Edgeworth an objection, only for Edgeworth to deny him that opportunity. That is to say, ''the Judge gets overruled.''
** Also, the judge's brother is [[CanadaEh Canadian]]. For some reason.
** ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations 2'' has Hakari Mikagami, a relatively young female judge who, unlike The Judge and his brother, is all business. This is quite unfortunate for Edgeworth, since she's part of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee and hopes to put an end to his career because she believes he is breaking rules and overstepping his bounds in his investigations.
* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney'' you meet a middle-ages version of the beloved Judge- except this one is wearing creepy purple robes and will gladly send your client into a pit of fire as soon as you make any step because [[WitchHunt all witches must be burnt alive]] even if they haven't done anything bad- their crime is ''existing''. The judge from the main series is dumb but lovable, this one is downright disturbing.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Liam the Leprechaun plays the role of a judge in WebVideo/TheAnnoyingOrange CourtroomEpisode. Needless to say, he's not a very good judge.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', Scrooge appears before a judge in "Duckman of Aquatraz" and "The Bride Wore Stripes". His judges are gruff, older, anthropomorphic male characters. To make a long story short, it's fair to say Duckburg, USA has an ''injustice'' system, not a justice system.
* The judge on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is a gruff older ''black'' man, sort of combining the two archetypes.
** They also have a stern white woman, an over-the-top caricature of TV's ''Series/JudgeJudy''.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' had Judge Whitey, an older white man with a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents prep accent]].
** The Chief Justice in Futurama in an fifth season episode is an older Asian woman. The Supremes appear again in a later episode when the head of Snoop Dogg has been elevated to Chief Justice (he was "only" a Justice in the earlier episode).
** The judge at Zapp Brannigan's trial (possibly actually a Court Martial or Captain's Mast) for blowing up DOOP headquarters is Glab, a female Amphibiosan (Kif's species) of indeterminate age (though she is probably at most middle aged for that species). Nor really a very good judge, as her catch phrase is "I'm going to allow this," which she says to an increasingly outrageous series of legal (and other) stunts, and she believes Leela's corroboration of Zapp's version of events.[[note]]'''Leela:''' Your Honour, it's all true: My female incompetence, Zapp's cat-like reflexes, the stuff that made no sense, all of it.[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' features this in the episode entitled "Second Chance" Apparently [[spoiler:[[SplitPersonality Two]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Face]]]] hadn't lost the capacity to feel guilt even after his evil side took over and a third personality was born. This one is fittingly named "The Judge". Instead of helping the others with their various crimes, he is a vigilante that uses [[WellIntentionedExtremist far harsher methods than Batman]]. He tries to take out ALL of Gotham's major villains [[TomatoInTheMirror including himself.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle'': In the cartoon "The Lion Hunt," Heckle is the judge in an impromptu trial against a lion the two birds are after, accused of "killing" Jeckle.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other ]]

* Silvester from [[http://www.shapequest.net Shape Quest]] is a high judge in his own country.

[[/folder]]
----

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s Odo got Judge-like as the series got more and more Arc-ish.

* ''Film/BicentennialMan'' had the gruff older white man variety in Andrew's first court appearance, and the stern black woman variety in his second.

-->--''Theatre/TrialByJury''

* ''Series/{{Billions}}'', recurring character Judge Adam [=DeGuilo=], played by Creator/RobMorrow, is both a DeadpanSnarker and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure.

* Averted in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', where the semi-recurring and somewhat bemused Judge Ping (presiding George Bluth's trial) is played by the Chinese American Michael Paul Chan.

* ''Series/{{Billions}}, Judge Adam [=DeGuilo=], played by Creator/RobMorrow, is both a DeadpanSnarker and a ReasonableAuthorityFigure.

Supertrope to the JudgeJuryAndExecutioner, who combines cop, judge and executioner all in one; and HangingJudge, who always pursues conviction, almost always of the capital kind.

* On ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'', Scrooge appears before a judge in "Duckman of Aquatraz" and "The Bride Wore Stripes". His judges are gruff, older, anthropomorphic male characters. To make a long story short, it's fair to say Duckburg, USA has an ''injustice'' system, not a justice system.

* King Solomon in TheBible served as a judge in addition to being a king. A memorable story involves two woman with a single child both claiming that the child is theirs and that the other woman stole their child when theirs died. Solomon declares that he will simply cut the child in half and give half to each of the mothers, which one of the mothers is horrified by and one is okay with. [[GuileHero Naturally Solomon declares that the concerned mother was the true one and gives her the living child.]]

* An episode of the Creator/RichardPrior CBS TV show ''Prior's Place'' had a scene in which a young girl had to appear in Family Court. The woman who played the judge was named Rose Bird, who formerly was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. (She was voted out of office because of her opposition to the Death Penalty.)

* The ''Film/RockyAndBullwinkle'' movie had Creator/WhoopiGoldberg as Judge Cameo.

** One notable recurring judge, Janice Goldberg, was played by journalist, satirist, and latter-day DorothyParker Fran Lebowitz. She was exactly as [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] as you'd expect.