Catchword: rent a judge

Filed under: English, Law, Slang

Part of speech: n.

Quotation: Q: What is reference judging? A: In California, it’s called “rent a judge,” a pejorative term. Here, about 15 years ago, we passed a statute that allowed parties to retain someone who has been approved by the Supreme Court to sit on a reference-judge panel in certain judicial districts.…If the parties agree—and it cannot be a jury trial or a criminal trial—they can select a person who has been approved to be on that panel, mostly retired judges but some lawyers. That person will try their case just as though it was tried before a regular sitting judge.

Article or document title:
“Justice looks back at career, toward future” (URL)

Author:
Peter Wong

Article, document, publication, web site:
Statesman Journal

Publishing location:
Salem, Oregon

Date of publication:
Sept. 25, 2006

This catchword has yet to be researched.