How to address a Judge?

Hi. I'm translating a law document and I'm not sure how the Judge should be addressed.

I have to use the British "system", so is it Sir Judge? What if the Judge is a woman, Madam Judge?

And when writing a sentence with those terms is it correct to say something like "I ask you Sir Judge"?

Thanks in advance.

Clive wrote:

Hi, As a layman, I'm not sure what is the proper term, but 'Sir Judge' is definitely wrong. Perhaps 'Your worship' or 'My Lord'. I believe it depends on the type of judge and the type of court. eg is it a mere Justice of the Peace, or a High Court Judge? Best wishes, Clive PS - You got me interested, so I looked on the net, and found this site. Have a look for all the details. http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about_judiciary/forms_of_address/index.

Thanks for replying

It's a fairly normal judicial court dealing with common crimes which led me to think the judge rank corresponds to a district judge (not very high), hence my inclination to think it's "sir" or "madam". I saw that stated on Wikipedia by the end of this page under "Titles": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge. That's also indicated in the link you provided, but is it that wrong to use those terms?

Clive wrote:

Hi again, It seems to differ depending on whether you are addressing the judge in person or in writing. Clive

Yes, that's right. Thanks for the tips and for the link I guess I'll use "sir" and "madam" then.

Formally, it may depend on the court, but you may also consider using "your honour".

From my experience, if you are in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, etc. the proper way to refer to a "judge" in court is "my Lord" or "my Lady" depending on the gender of the judge in question. In the US, lawyers use "your Honor" (US spelling of course).

When recording judgments and writing about judges and there judgments, etc. the judge is referred to based on the local procedures and practice, for example, (US) Justice of the Supreme Court, Federal Court Judge, (UK) the Honourable Lord Whatchamcallit, etc..

Cheers!