judge

judge vb

1 Judge, adjudge, adjudicate, arbitrate mean to decide something in dispute or controversy upon its merits and upon evidence. All these words imply the existence of a competent legal tribunal or of its equivalent.

Judge implies mainly the investigation of evidence on both sides, a comparison of the merits of each case, and a decision as to where the truth lies

{

the court must judge between the claimants

}

{

the matter is to be judged on the facts as they appeared then— Justice Holmes

}

Adjudge stresses decision by a court either at the end of a trial or during a legal process

{

the evidence was adjudged inadmissible

}

{

the court adjudged the will void

}

{

the district court adjudged the 1946 agreement void— Harvard Law Review

}

Adjudicate, on the other hand, stresses formal deliberate determination of an issue by or as if by a court and often the pronouncing of a judgment, sentence, or decree

{

the court proceeded to adjudicate the rights and interests of the parties

}

{

it is useless to reargue a seemingly adjudicated case Lowes

}

{

a bitter dispute that was not adjudicated until 1782— Amer. Guide Series: Conn.

}

{

all former WW II POWs whose claims were adjudicated by the commission— The Naval Reservist

}

Arbitrate implies deliberate determination of a matter in dispute by one or more persons who constitute a tribunal that may or may not be legally recognized and who are usually acceptable to both sides to the controversy

{

the strikers and the employers finally agreed on a group of three men to arbitrate their differences

}

{

litigation has virtually ceased: it is possible, of course, that the elders are arbitrating these cases out of court— Gunn

}

Analogous words: determine, *decide, settle, rule

2 conclude, deduce, *infer, gather

Analogous words: *prove, demonstrate, try, test

judge n Judge, arbiter, arbitrator, referee, umpire are comparable when they denote a person who decides or helps to decide questions or issues that are unsettled or in controversy.

Judge implies the assumption or the possession both of superior knowledge, experience, or wisdom, and of the power to determine the truth by weighing critically and impartially the merits of a case

{

it doth appear you are a worthy judge; you know the law, your exposition hath been most sound— Shak.

}

{

the polls in each district or precinct are in charge of . . . two judges, who help decide disputes— Ogg & Ray

}

{

the question is whether in language the results justify the quibble. Well, the public is here the best judge— Barzun

}

Arbiter stresses authoritativeness of decision and is applied to one, whether or not a professed judge, whose word or example is accepted as final and indisputable

{

the arbiter of taste ... the persuasive exponent of a reasonable life, the clear, sad thinker who led no man astray— Repplier

}

{

they were the arbiters of fashion, the Court of last Appeal, and they knew it— Wharton

}

{

that "common consent of mankind" which certain moralists make the arbiter in ethics— Brownell

}

Arbitrator, referee, and umpire are applied to persons to whom a dispute is referred for decision.

Arbitrator, though sometimes interchangeable with arbiter, usually is applied to a person chosen by the parties to a controversy or appointed under statutory authority to resolve the differences between the parties and to formulate a fair solution

{

the governor appointed as arbitrators two persons recommended by the striking miners, two recommended by the mineowners, and one person agreed upon by both sides

}

In legal use referee is applied to an attorney-at-law appointed either to determine a case or to report on it to the court which he serves as an officer. It is therefore clearly distinguishable from arbitrator.

Umpire, on the other hand, is applied to the person selected to make a final decision when arbitrators have disagreed or are tied. In sports and games both umpire and referee are technical terms applied to the official or officials charged with the regulation and supervision of a contest (as by enforcement of rules of a game, making decisions on plays, and determining penalties for faults).

In most sports either one term or the other is used; thus, these officials in baseball, cricket, and tennis are designated umpires, while in boxing, basketball, football, and ice hockey they are designated referees. In nontechnical use referee usually is applied to one to whom disputants have recourse when agreement seems impossible, umpire to one who enters in and arbitrarily ends the struggle or dispute

{

clear-sighted, unprejudiced, sagacious ... he was the universal referee— Disraeli

}

{

just death, kind umpire of men's miseries— Shak.

}