The old-fashioned form of address for most judges in the superior courts is to change from "my lord" to simply "judge" from Tuesday next, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell confirmed yesterday.
Both the Chief Justice and the president of the High Court are to be exempted from the changed form of address. Instead, they will be addressed by their usual titles.
"From Tuesday next that's gone, so a judge will be referred to as 'judge', the Chief Justice referred to as 'Chief Justice' or the president of the High Court referred to as 'president'," the Minister said.
Explaining his decision to sign the changes into operation yesterday, he claimed this was an appropriate development under a "republican constitution".
"It is provided for in fact in the statute and in the rules of the superior courts for some time that there should be a different way of addressing judges," Mr McDowell said. "In the past judges were addressed as 'my lord' and referred to as 'your lordship', and the superior courts rules committee, which is chaired by the Chief Justice, has decided that we must end that now. And I've signed that."