PENSIONS FOR JUDGES

Authors

Burke Shartel, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

All of the principal civilized countries have judicial pension systems of long standing. England has had such a system for the benefit of the judges of its higher courts since 1799. The chief English dominions, -- Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and North Ireland -- all provide disability and superannuation allowances for judges. France has had a comprehensive pension system since 1853; and Germany since 1877. The United States has, since 1869, provided for the voluntary retirement of all federal judges on full pay after ten years service at the age of seventy. And the writer has been surprised to find that nineteen of the states of this country already have established one kind or another of judicial pension. Most of this legislation in the states is the product of the last ten years and most of it is far from adequate. But the fact that it exists means that the movement to make adequate provision for state judges has started. In all probability those states which have not yet done anything in this regard will be giving the subject consideration in the near future; and those states which already make some provision will be considering improvements in the terms and conditions of their pension grants. With this probable development in mind, I believe a comparative analysis of existing pension legislation and a discussion of the kinds of pensions, their futures and their cost, is timely.

Recommended Citation

Burke Shartel, PENSIONS FOR JUDGES, 27 Mich. L. Rev. 134 (1928).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol27/iss2/3