Traditionally, lawyers (who like to call themselves “counsels” or “advocates”) address judges as “Your Honor.” Why? I suspect it’s because judges are considered honorable.
But um… aren’t there other honorable people? Why don’t we call them – doctors, lawyers, teachers, auto mechanics – honorable if they actually are? Rather than automatically using an honorable label, shouldn’t a person, regardless of status, be presumed honorable based on their behavior, rather than being presumed honorable based on their status?
As you might imagine, it’s more complicated. Why?
The term “Your Honor” dates back to feudal times and generally referred to the nobility. As I’ve written before, the reason judges wear robes has the same origin. In ancient times, nobles wore robes to communicate to the lower classes of society, “Hey, I’m wearing a robe,” and they were therefore a big deal. Since judges were a big deal and part of the aristocracy, they too wore robes.
Over time, it went out of fashion for any high-ranking man to wear a robe (can you imagine Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Elon Musk in robes, for example?), but the judges’ robes remained a relic of older, perhaps even outdated, times.
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Likewise, the greeting “Your Honor” for everyone, Tom, Dick and the great Poohbah Harry, disappeared into the dustbin of disuse. Nevertheless, it stuck with the judges like putty on a textured wall.
Unless you are smarter than I am, I doubt you can conjure up anyone, other than judges, whom we address as “Your Honor.” I have noticed, however, that in official proceedings, certain high-ranking people — senators, for example — are addressed as “The Honorable” So-and-so, but not as “Your Honor.”
Then why do we continue?
I would say it is mainly tradition. We do not snicker at a judge sitting on the bench wearing what appears to be an ermine-collared bathrobe, nor do we laugh out loud when the same person is addressed as “Your Honor.”
A quick note, only slightly off topic: Who else should we stand up for as he/she enters or leaves a room, if not for a judge entering or leaving the courtroom?
Reptevia might declaim in a song: “Tradition!”
That is certainly the case, but it is also about respect for the judge and our legal system, which – notwithstanding recent political turmoil and judicial fraud – is the most essential element of our system of government.
I do not believe that the claim that the rule of law is the backbone of democracy is an exaggeration.
It is interesting, to say the least, that this particular air of nobility still exists, even though we fought a war of independence to free ourselves from monarchy and to shed the trappings of arrogance. Does not the title “Your Honour” represent monarchist traditions rather than the innocence of “We the People”?
Personally, I have been in the profession for nearly 40 years. I guess I have become something of a traditionalist – at least in the courtroom. And that is how I was trained in my early years as a lawyer. And I sincerely believe that the honorary title is as much a sign of respect for the institution as it is for the conscientious individual who holds the office of judge.
However, it has become common for lawyers to address judges as “Judge” rather than “Your Honor.” I suppose this is more modern and in line with other efforts to demystify legal proceedings and eliminate existing Latinisms and convert them into understandable, plain English.
Do judges mind if a lawyer addresses them as “judge”? I haven’t noticed it particularly. But to my own ears it sounds jarring. I suppose “judge” or “your honor” are equally acceptable these days.
But how about saying “Hey you!” or simply calling the judge by his name.
No, not so much.
Maybe someday in another column I’ll ponder with you why we call MDs, Psy.Ds, Ph.Ds and others “doctors” but not JDs.
Hmmmm.
Rohn K. Robbins is a Colorado and California licensed attorney practicing in the Vail Valley with the law firm of Caplan & Earnest, LLC. His practice areas include business and commercial transactions, real estate and development, family law, child custody and divorce, and civil litigation. Robbins can be reached at 970-926-4461 or [email protected]. His novels How to Raise a Shark (An Apocryphal Tale), The Stone Minder’s Daughter, Why I Walk so Slow, and He Said They Came From Mars (Tales from the Edge of the Legal Universe) are currently available at fine bookstores. And forthcoming is The Theory of Dancing Mice.
