Justiciary

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A judgeship: a judge's jurisdiction, power, or office. Scotland, countable, historical
  2. 2
    the jurisdiction of a justiciar wordnet
  3. 3
    The judiciary: a collective term for the court system or the body of judges, justices etc. uncountable
  4. 4
    formerly a high judicial officer wordnet
  5. 5
    One who administers justice; A judge or justice. countable, historical, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    One who administers justice; A magistrate. countable, historical, uncountable
  2. 7
    One who administers justice; A Chief Justiciar: the highest political and judicial officer of the Kingdom of England in the 12th and 13th centuries. countable, historical, uncountable
  3. 8
    One who administers justice; A justiciar: a high-ranking judicial officer of medieval England or Scotland. countable, historical, uncountable
  4. 9
    One who administers justice; Various equivalent medieval offices elsewhere in Europe. countable, historical, uncountable
  5. 10
    A believer in the doctrine (or heresy) that adherence to religious law redeems mankind before God. countable, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to justification or redemption before God. obsolete
  2. 2
    Of or relating to the doctrine (or heresy) that adherence to religious law redeems mankind before God. obsolete
  3. 3
    Judicial: of or relating to the administration of justice, judges, or judgeships.
  4. 4
    Of or relating to the High Court of Justiciary.
  5. 5
    Of or relating to a circuit court held by one of the judges of the High Court of Justiciary.

Synonyms

All synonyms
justiciarbenchjudicaturesee legalistdoomsmanjudg

Etymology

From Late Latin justitiaria, justiciaria (“judgeship, judiciarship; court sessions”), justitiarius, and justiciarius (“justiciar, judge, justice [of the peace]; judiciary, related to justice”), all from Latin iūstitia (“justice”) + -āria (“-ary”). Paralleled in Middle English and Early Modern English by forms from Anglo-Norman justiserie (“judgeship, judiciarship”), from Anglo-Norman and Middle French justicerie (“judgeship; tribunal”), from justice + -ery. As a translation of various Continental European offices, via Middle French justicier, Spanish justiciero, etc.

Related phrases

Capital JusticiaryChief JusticiaryCircuit Court of JusticiaryCommissioner of JusticiaryCourt of JusticiaryHigh Court of JusticiaryLord Commissioner of JusticiaryLord of Justiciarychief justiciarcircuit courthigh court of justiciary

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.