Hanging judge

"Hanging judge" is a colloquial phrase for a judge who has gained notoriety for handing down punishment by sentencing convicted persons to death by hanging, or imposing unusually harsh sentences in jurisdictions where the death penalty has been abolished. Hanging judges are officers of the court with mandates, as opposed to extralegal lynch law.

Examples

• George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys^[1]
• Matthew Baillie Begbie, Vancouver and Victoria judge^[2]
• Isaac Charles Parker, U.S. district judge^[3]
• Roland Freisler, president (presiding judge) of the Nazi Volksgericht^[4]
• Sadegh Khalkhali, Shia cleric of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Cultural references

• A character in the Bob Dylan song "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" (album: Blood on the Tracks)
• Justice Wargrave in Agatha Christie's novel Ten Little Niggers (published as And Then There Were None in the United States)
• The Hanging Judge, a 1918 film directed by Henry Edwards
• A track on the 1991 Armored Saint album Symbol of Salvation

References

1. Tyler Bryant, Ruth. "George Jeffreys, first Baron Jeffreys of Wem". Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Collection: Chief Justice George Jeffreys. University of Georgia School of Law. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
2. Williams, David R. (1977). The Man for a New Country. Victoria, BC: Gray's Publishing. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-8882-6068-0.
3. National Park Service. "Judge Isaac C. Parker". National Park Service. Retrieved 22 November 2015. Remembered in Western novels and films as a "Hanging Judge"
4. Knopp, Guido (2002). "4, "The Hanging Judge"". Hitler's Hitmen. United Kingdom: Sutton Publishing.