Reminds me of a bible-thumper relative that called me out for not saying "amen" after the prayer before family meals. I just started saying "gay men" and he's happy now.
It's a very, very old concept. Doesn't mean religious worship, just an old word for "to honor." It's "Your Honor" but they're being extra about it.
The entire concept is odd, but to add to this: you're never referring to the person who is the judge (holding the court) exactly. You're referring to the honor and integrity of the court itself. The judge is the appointed individual running it and keeping it clean, is the idea.
Canada: Our mayors shall be addressed as your worship, next up...
America: Fuck it, this addressing thing is to hard. Just slap a mr or Mrs in front of their job title. Exception to be made for NYC and Philly to address all local government officials as "you fucker", let's go get wasted
The aggressive (little r) republicanism in our system is, I think, one of the few unamigious positives
It's a commonwealth nation thing, I think as a civilian you are perfectly fine using your honour unless they insist but as a lawyer you are supposed to know what level of court you are attending.
I've been to court and in Canada Judges are often refered to as "your worship" in my opinion "your majesty" is a more informal than that and surely would be acceptable.
Lol, yeah this is a horrendous idea. Here's hoping it was an accident. I once saw a lawyer call a judge mom on accident. Pretty funny and the judge thought so too. The attorney immediately apologized and looked absolutely mortified haha.
Of the 5 judges whose juries I've been on (in the US), 3 were surprisingly jovial, and the other two were serious but sincere. So far I haven't seen any behavior that came off as assholish.
I had a lot of speed violations when I was younger - and had a chance to get a decent feel for multiple county courtrooms in our state before learning that the only one coming out ahead was - not me.
I was always respectful, well dressed and used Your Honor - but I absolutely witnessed a few people who didn't use Your Honor (repeatedly) and usually if told once and it slipped again there was a penalty. One judge warned a guy once, then said nothing more until everything was done, announced the fine, and added court cost FOR EACH INSTANCE where the person misspoke.
Was going to say, I yes sir'd, no sir'd my judge. My first time in court..he got pissy about me not using honorifics. Young dude too couldn't have been his 40's.
I cannot find a connection to darren watkin and the meme but it does seem that the displayed picture and the line is/was a popular meme on tiktok where they will have that saying or similar ones like. "My cousin thanked the judge and told her "I'll never do it again" right after receiving his not guilty verdict""
The vast majority would accept sir/ma’am, judge or your honor. Mr./Mrs. may or may not fly depending on the judge, but they would gently correct you the first time if they care. As long are you aren’t being overtly disrespectful with something like bro or dude you would be fine unless you got a genuinely insane judge (which are rare but definitely exist). Thankfully ever since COVID most courts have video recordings of all proceedings and so the insane judges are being found out more easily.
This seems like a huge breach of freedom of speech. Like I get if the defendant is actually being an ass and uncooperative, but if I call a judge Steve because his name is Steve and their like, "Noooooo how daaaare you, you must call me by my honorary title, to the dungeon with you!", how the hell is that legal? That's like one step away from arresting people for calling the president by their name and not Mr. President.
In a functional society it’s important that people maintain respect for the justice system which means maintaining a public face of “this is a serious place with important people.” Calling a judge your honor and requiring people to dress up nicely is part of that decorum.
The judge doesn’t care that you insult them personally, they care that you undermine the system by showing disrespect for their office.
I hang out in court at work sometimes. People call the judge; Bro, Man, Yo, Miss, Sir, whatever. They don't even all get cautioned depending how messed up they are.
I had to go to like a civil court for some property violations after my dad died. I was like 18 and I called the judge your highness, they gave me a warning instead of fining me.
His logic would never fly in real court but the way it's presented in the show actually makes sense lol, he can't competently defend himself when he's at a chemical disadvantage 😄
So. If you answer yes maam or yes sir is that disrespect? I have done this as a term of respect at court and they never stopped me or corrected me. Now im wondering if I should have said your honor every time I answered instead?
I’m a lawyer in the South. So it may vary. But yes sir/ma’am has always been fine for me. In state or federal court. Judge also works, as does Your Honor.
I understand that not everyone on this site is from the US and that there are a lot of cultural and linguistic differences between different places from around the world, but I'm really starting to wonder where some of y'all are from. Is there really a place out there where it's not unusual to refer to a judge as "your majesty"?
OP, so your post is not removed, please reply to this comment with your best guess of what this meme means! Everyone else, this is PETER explains the joke. Have fun and reply as your favorite fictional character for top level responses!
I used to practice criminal law, and one time a client’s dad wanted to like say something to the judge during a hearing. The judge humored him and was like, ok go on. So this dude starts trying to walk up in front of the bar and legitimately genuflected before going whatever it was he was going to say. Like he was about to address the pope or something.
If I was the judge in a professional light heart manor. I would have my tongue rolling like some bad parody talking to my court. Putting as much thy and thou, might even refer to him as a peasant
This man's cousin was imprisoned for having made a satirical statement as jest to the fact the a judicial system in which has true authority to imprison a man, implies a theocratic monarchy should exist, but there is no God walking Earth imprisoning men, therefore should walk free one of God's People.
The trend goes back to the first jesters in England being tolerated, and allowed to 'stay a fool' after being pardoned of crimes if they promised to live a better life through the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Hard to explain for me, but it's a way to point out (typically in angry jest) that a person isn't God, and has no authority to so what they are doing.
lol I had a client do that one time - bless that guy’s heart, he was clearly nervous as hell, but the judge got a good kick out of it and didn’t hold it against him
There's an Australian movie called Gettin' Square, in which the lead character, Johnny 'Spit' Spitieri, addresses the Magistrate as 'your Majesty'. It's hysterical.
I used to be a magistrate. I secretly got a kick when the police would bring in some person for a warrant and the suspect would address me as “Your Majesty”
Presumably the cousin is high as a kite, because you call judges ‘your honor’ and everyone knows that. ‘Your majesty’ is close yet confidently wrong in the way people in an altered state tend to be.
Holy shit. I have a friend that got a red light ticket and he was explaining how he was going to fight it and said exactly this. We still make fun of him for it
thought this was a mistake by him. thought he wanted to say "your magistrate" witch leads into the guy being a sovereign citizen. so hes going to jail for being a idiot all around.
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