Chief Justice

The Chief Justice is the presiding member of a supreme court in any of many countries with a justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, the Supreme Court of Japan, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme Court of Nepal, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Supreme Court of Ireland, the Supreme Court of New Zealand, the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of the United States, and provincial or state supreme courts.

The situation is slightly different in the three legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom. The courts of England and Wales are headed by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales; in Northern Ireland's courts, the equivalent position is the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and in Scottish courts, the equivalent is the Lord President of the Court of Session. These three judges are not, though, part of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which operates across all three jurisdictions and is headed by the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system (the judicial branch of the federal government of the United States) and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1789 until 1866, the office was known as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The Chief Justice is the highest judicial officer in the country, and acts as a chief administrative officer for the federal courts and as head of the Judicial Conference of the United States appoints the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Chief Justice also serves as a spokesperson for the judicial branch.

The Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over oral arguments before the court. When the court renders an opinion, the Chief Justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the court's opinion. The Chief Justice also has significant agenda-setting power over the court's meetings. In the case of an impeachment of a President of the United States, which has occurred twice, the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice has the ceremonial duty of administering the oath of office of the President of the United States.

Chief Justice of Hungary

The chief justice (Hungarian: királyi személynök,Latin: personalis praesentiae regiae in judiciis locumtenens,German: Königliche Personalis) was the personal legal representative of the King of Hungary, who issued decrees of judicial character on behalf of the monarch authenticated with the royal seal, performed national notarial activities and played an important role in the organisation of lawyers training. Later the chief justice was the head of the Royal Court of Justice (Hungarian: Királyi Ítélőtábla, Latin: Tabula Regia Iudiciaria) and the Tribunal of the Chief Justice (Hungarian: személynöki szék, Latin: sedes personalitia), the highest legal forum of civil cases.

Origins

The office of personalis evolved since the early 15th century within the royal chancellery. In the beginning, the king was represented by the secret chancellor in the judiciary (judge of personal presence). The first known chief justice was Janus Pannonius, a Croato-Hungarian humanist poet who returned to Hungary after finishing studies at the University of Padua in 1458, the coronation year of Matthias Corvinus. Pannonius served as chief justice until 1459, when he was elected as the Bishop of Pécs. Until the 1464 reform, the complete list of chief justices is unknown. It is certain that Albert Vetési, Bishop of Veszprém held the office for a short time around 1460.