I was slightly amused, if not completely bemused, by the tale of the ‘angry judge’ whose ruling was successfully appealed because she had ‘crossed the line’. The judge must have had a really bad day because the appellate court found that she had ‘created a hostile atmosphere, alienating everyone appearing before her’. Oh dear!
I often advise clients that they can’t appeal decisions just because they don’t like the outcome. Without, being too technical, there has to be some element of ‘wrongness’ about the decision. However, if the judge engages in ‘blasphemous words, shouting, storming out of court and general intemperate behaviour’, it is not likely that such behaviour will pass the test of procedural fairness! I mean, you have to listen fairly to judge fairly, right?
The judge was also described in terms of ‘being sarcastic, shaking with rage, turning her chair away from the court and sitting with her back to everyone for several seconds, mimicking the advocate’s words and intimidating the child’s guardian’. Oh dear!
Judges are required to judge – I’m sorry to state the obvious, or as the appellate court more eloquently puts it, judges should not go ‘far beyond clarification or amplification’ and they should resist descending ‘into the heart of the arena’. Quite.
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