Glossary of terms

An officer of the crown who sits to administer justice according to the law.

The office of service held by a member of the judiciary.

Although a legal qualification is mandatory for posts in the higher court tiers there are many posts held by people from different professions (e.g. health, medical, land valuation, finance) or who have no particular professional background.

Most non-legal posts are fee-paid and are found within the Magistrates' Courts and Tribunals.

The Judicial Profile is an overall framework which provides a picture of what is required of those to be appointed to judicial office. It is divided between two areas: Skills & Attributes and Behaviours & Effectiveness.

Skills & Attributes includes three distinctive criteria: Knowledge and Expertise, Intellectual Capacity and Exercising Judgement. These describe what judicial office holders should do well and their typical characteristic features.

Behaviour & Effectiveness also includes three distinct criteria: Collaborating Effectively, Communicating Effectively and Managing Effectively. These describe how judicial office holders should act and how successful they are at achieving desired outcomes.

The Judicial Profile framework is used by each Selection Committee to identify and set out the criteria required to be successful in the judicial office being recruited to. 

Supervision by the High Court of the process used by public bodies when reaching decisions, including decisions to make secondary legislation.

A NIJAC run scheme which provides Solicitors, Barristers, Doctors and land valuation experts with a unique opportunity to shadow a judicial office holder in the courts and in some tribunals throughout Northern Ireland.

Additional information on the Judicial Shadowing Scheme.

The JSB is the body responsible for judicial training in Northern Ireland.

The board runs lecture style study programmes and training workshops for the judiciary and issues written material to all judges.

Collective term for the Judges, Magistrates and Tribunal members who currently deal with legal matters in Northern Ireland.

Information on the Judiciary of Northern Ireland can be found here.

Term for the area of judicial responsibility. It can refer to geographical or scope of work responsibility.