Hanging Judge
Encyclopedia
"Hanging judge" is an unofficial term for a judge
who has gained renown for punishment by sentencing convicted criminals to death by hanging
.
More broadly, the term is applied to judges who have gained a reputation for imposing unusually harsh sentences, even in jurisdictions where the death penalty has been abolished. While the term is not necessarily negative, it is used to demonstrate a desire for quick, firm justice. The term "hanging judge" was generally applied to officers of the court with mandates, as opposed to extralegal lynch law.
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
who has gained renown for punishment by sentencing convicted criminals to death by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
More broadly, the term is applied to judges who have gained a reputation for imposing unusually harsh sentences, even in jurisdictions where the death penalty has been abolished. While the term is not necessarily negative, it is used to demonstrate a desire for quick, firm justice. The term "hanging judge" was generally applied to officers of the court with mandates, as opposed to extralegal lynch law.
Reputed hanging judges
- Roy BeanRoy BeanPhantly Roy Bean, Jr. was an eccentric U.S. saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, Judge Roy Bean held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande in a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of...
, US Justice of the Peace - Sir Matthew Baillie BegbieMatthew Baillie BegbieSir Matthew Baillie Begbie was born on the island of Mauritius, thereafter raised and educated in the United Kingdom...
, Chief Justice of British Columbia, from 1858 to 1894 - Roland FreislerRoland FreislerRoland Freisler was a prominent and notorious Nazi lawyer and judge. He was State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the People's Court , which was set up outside constitutional authority...
, infamous Nazi Judge presiding over Hitler's People's Court - The Guillotine Club, as the Hanging Judges of ManilaManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
were known - George JeffreysGeorge Jeffreys, 1st Baron JeffreysGeorge Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, PC , also known as "The Hanging Judge", was an English judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor .- Early years and education :Jeffreys was born at the family estate of Acton Hall, near Wrexham,...
of England and Wales - Henry HawkinsHenry Hawkins, 1st Baron BramptonHenry Hawkins, 1st Baron Brampton PC, QC , known as Sir Henry Hawkins between 1876 and 1899, was an English judge. He served as a Judge of the High Court of Justice between 1876 and 1898.-Background and education:...
- Ayatollah Sadegh KhalkhaliAyatollah Sadegh KhalkhaliHujjat al-Islam Sadeq Givi aka Sadegh Khalkhali was a hardline Twelver Shi'a cleric of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is said to have "brought to his job as Chief Justice of the revolutionary courts a relish for summary execution" that earned him a reputation as Iran's "hanging judge"...
- Joseph Needham
- Lord Norbury, from County TipperaryCounty TipperaryCounty Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
, IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... - Isaac ParkerIsaac ParkerIsaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years and also one-time politician. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion...
- Albert F. SaboAlbert F. SaboAlbert F. Sabo was an American lawyer and judge of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. He is best known for presiding over the 1982 murder trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal...
, presiding judge in the trial of Mumia Abu-JamalCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-JamalCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal was a 1982 murder trial in which Mumia Abu-Jamal was tried and convicted for the first-degree murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner.... - Choor SinghChoor SinghChoor Singh Sidhu , known professionally as Choor Singh, was a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and, particularly after his retirement from the bench, a philanthropist and writer of books about Sikhism. Born to a family of modest means in Punjab, India, he came to Singapore at four years of...
, former judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore - Vasiliy Ulrikh, judge of Stalinist show trials
Other uses
- A track on the SodomSodom (band)Sodom is a German Thrash metal trio from Gelsenkirchen, formed in 1981.Along with the bands Kreator and Destruction, Sodom is considered one of the "big three" of Teutonic thrash metal...
album 'Til Death Do Us Unite'Til Death Do Us Unite'Til Death Do Us Unite is the eighth album by Sodom. It had a controversial album cover, showing the bellies of a naked pregnant woman and an obese man pressing a human skull together. This album marked the beginning of return to thrash, but was more along the lines of thrash/crossover sound... - A character in the Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
song "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of HeartsLily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", is a song by Bob Dylan released on the 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. There have been two screenplays written based on the song: one by John Kaye and commissioned by Dylan, and another written by James Byron...
" (album: Blood on the TracksBlood on the TracksBlood on the Tracks is Bob Dylan's 15th studio album, released by Columbia Records in January 1975. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia after a two-album stint with Asylum Records....
). - Justice Wargrave in Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's novel Ten Little Niggers (Published as And Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 because of the presence of a racial...
in the United States) - The Hanging Judge (film)The Hanging Judge (film)The Hanging Judge is a 1918 British silent drama film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Edwards, Chrissie White and Hamilton Stewart. The son of a notorious judge is put on trial for murder. It was based on a play by Tom Gallon and Leon M...
, a 1918 film directed by Henry Edwards