The chief judge is the presiding judge over other judges in a court and may head the judicial branch of a country’s government. The Chief Justice is appointed differently in the US and Canada, and their non-judicial roles vary by country.
The chief judge has two main meanings. For courts where there are multiple judges, the title is reserved for the presiding judge over the rest. Additionally, a Chief Justice may head the judicial branch of a country’s government.
There are a number of countries that have a chief justice in their judicial system. Among them are Australia, Canada, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the United States. Additionally, countries may have chief justices at the state or provincial level, such as in some United States (some have a chief justice instead) and some Canadian provinces and territories.
The Chief Justice of the United States, like all justices of the United States Supreme Court, is appointed to office by the president and confirmed to office by the Senate. That is, both the executive and legislative branches are involved in the decision. In Canada, on the other hand, the Chief Justice of Canada is appointed by the general government, on the advice of the current federal cabinet: there is no obligation to consult parliament.
In the United States, the Chief Justice is not included in the presidential line of succession which stipulates that incumbent can act as President or become President of the United States in any case when the president-elect or incumbent is unable to fulfill the duties of ‘office . Since the chief justice is the head of the judicial branch of the federal government and the president is the head of the executive branch, the balance of power is maintained by this exclusion. In Canada, however, the Chief Justice of Canada is the country’s second-in-command. It is this person who assumes the functions of the Governor General of Canada if the Governor General is unable to act.
The non-judicial roles of a Chief Justice vary by country and may be established or ad hoc. In established duties, for example, in the United States, the Chief Justice administers the presidential oath of office at an inauguration as a matter of custom. The clerk of the Smithsonian Institution is another role of the Chief Justice of the United States, as is the management of the Supreme Court Building. On the other hand, Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin’s Canadian symposium presentation in connection with the performance of the play Louis Riel, the founder of Manitoba, which was given at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, was an example of appearance on the special occasion of a chief justice.
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