If we could see a wide cross section of benches as seen from the judges point of view, would we see a pattern?
Could you be a little more specific? A “bench” in judicial terms has become largely metaphorical. Most judges sit in chairs.
In my experience, mainly in New York courtrooms, the courtroom/bench area is set up as follows in most superior court courtrooms (things like housing court courtrooms are often smaller and more informal):
In the front of the courtroom is the “bench” area, with a multi-level raised unit. The main judges “bench” is centered in the courtroom, and is a high desk area, typically about six feet wide. The judge will sit on a high-backed rolling swivel chair behind the bench on a raised platform about four steps above the general level of the courtroom. Surrounding the desk are wooden walls, maybe four feet above the floor of the court and extending six inches or a foot above the desk surface.
Many judges have a computer terminal on the bench these days, and most have several reference books (codes of procedure, pattern jury instructions, etc.). The bench will frequently be filled with documents and files from the case or cases the judge is considering.
To either side of the bench will typically be slightly less raised enclosures (a step or two up) where the witness and court clerk or court officer sit. On the courtroom to one side of the bench area is the jury box and usually there will be a desk on the opposite side for a court clerk. In front of the bench will usually be two large counsel tables, either side by side or front and back. In some courtrooms, however, there will only be one, and the opposing counsel will have to be uncomfortably next to each other.
All of this will be behind or enclosed by a railing or low wall (the bar), with bench seating outside the bar.
The courtrooms you see on Law and Order and other crime/law shows are often fairly typical of the more ornate courtrooms in actual use. Many of the court scenes are actually shot in the New York County Courthouse at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan. Some of the courtrooms you don’t see on TV are smaller and less fancy (and somer are downright ratty).
<hijack>Don’t forget to leave room for the penis pump. </hijack>
Our courtrooms are also laid out pretty much as Billdo describes. I have the U.S. and state flags behind me, sit on a leather-upholstered chair on rollers, and have plenty of space on the desk-like surface in front of me for taking notes, moving files back and forth, and checking reference books, as needed. There’s a gavel, but I rarely use it. There’s an on-off dial and a volume control for the courtroom’s microphone and speaker system. Some judges have small risers for their feet, or space heaters or fans tucked underneath, out of sight. There’s also a “panic button,” which looks like a small garage-door opener and is supposed to bring every bailiff on the run in an emergency, attached just under the rim of the desk. There’s a witness box to my left, and a space for the bailiff to sit or stand to my right.
But no penis pump. Too distracting.
You get used to it after a while.
It grows on you.
How do full benches sit in other parts of the world? Chief or senior puisne judge in the middle, with next senior to his or her right, and junior to his or her left?
Wouldn’t you grow into it?
Awww, beat me to it!
=Ahem= No pun intended.
Yes. IIRC, most multi-judge appellate courts throughout the United States follow the U.S. Supreme Court model:
[visitors]
[counsel table] [counsel table]
[lectern]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
in which the Chief Justice sits in seat 5, with the senior associate justice to his right in seat 6, the next-senior associate justice in seat 4, then the next-senior in seat 7, back and forth, and so on.
Most appellate courts hear cases in panels of three judges. Most state supreme courts have either 5 or 7 justices, who hear all cases together.
Thanks. Given the lay-out I suspect the US Supreme Court in turn follows the Lord Chancellor’s bench in the House of Lords in London.
Hijack: Do benches have drawers or cubbyholes? I assume it varies.
Most that I’ve seen have drawers; I’ve never seen any with cubbyholes.