History Main / SternOldJudge

** His, and everyone else's, conduct for a proper trial, unlike other comedic examples, is absolutely called for...the defendants are accused of first-degree murder, [[FelonyMisdemeanor not some minor charge taken seriously for laughs]]. The charges and the consequences from a false conviction are extremely serious.

* In ''Film/TheTrialOfTheChicago7'' the proceedings are dominated by the rule of Judge Julius Hoffman, a corpulent old white man who is a stickler for propriety. [[HangingJudge He seems predisposed against the defendants from the beginning]] due to his respect for authority -- the countercultural values professed by the hippie defendants seems to viscerally offend him, and the proceedings veer into KangarooCourt territory at times due to his respect for authority. At one point the defense wonder if the judge is senile due to some of the odd decisions he makes. Also, there's the problem of him [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain having a black defendant beaten up and gagged for showing contempt of court]].

* ''Series/TheCrowdedRoom'': The judge in Danny's case is an older black man who is gray-haired, gruff and will brook no nonsense from anyone, scoffing when Rya can't back her assertion of Danny having split personalities up at first.
* Discussed and subverted on ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', "The Burrito". Tahani says that all judges are extremely serious people who wear long robes and the JudicialWig. But the Judge turns out to be a flighty, approachable, and dorky woman.

* In ''Series/LawAndOrder'', Judge Walter Bradley is the toughest judge the Manhattan DA's office has to deal with. He's also among the oldest shown on the series.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Neuvillette has been Chief Justice of Fontaine for centuries and maintains a firm but never overreaching order of the court during trials with an ever stoic expression. Befitting Fontaine's theme of "justice", [[ConsummateProfessional he remains impartial to any trial, no matter the deliberation]].

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': The murder trial central to the plot is being presided over by Judge Chamberlain Haller, a stickler for proper procedure and etiquette who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court due to his failure to follow said rules and norms. However, once Vinny starts following the rules, Haller turns out to be perfectly fair and reasonable, and even warms up to him by the end.

The Stern Old Judge is generally a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, though this is by no means guaranteed. May overlap with GrumpyOldMan. When the judge isn't just strict but actively out to get the defendant, see HangingJudge.

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': The murder trial central to the plot is being presided over by Judge Chamberlain Haller, a stickler for proper procedure who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court due to his failure to follow said procedures. However, once Vinny starts following the rules, Haller turns out to be perfectly fair and reasonable, and even warms to him by the end.

* Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': Judge Lawrence Wargrave is a retired HangingJudge with a no-nonsense attitude; he is accused of steering a jury into sentencing an accused murderer to death in spite of evidence supporting the accused man's innocence.

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': The murder trial central to the plot is being presided over by Judge Chamberlain Haller, a stickler for proper procedure who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court due to his failure to follow said procedures. However, once Vinny starts following the rules, Haller turns out to be perfectly fair and reasonable.

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': The murder trial central to the plot is being presided over by Judge Heller, a stickler for proper procedure who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court due to his failure to follow said procedures. However, once Vinny starts following the rules, Heller turns out to be perfectly fair and reasonable.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horaceawhopper.jpg]]]]

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' with Judge Whitey, an elderly white man who speaks in a posh New England accent and is a parody of the stereotypical WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant rich guy who is clueless about anyone under his income bracket. Among other things, he has declared poverty a mental illness.

** Judge Roy Snyder is a gruff-voiced, middle-aged black man with a stern and dignified demeanor, who is nevertheless generally reasonable.

In American works, this archetype is generally either a [[BlackBossLady no-nonsense black woman]] or a gruff white man. When there's a tribunal or another situation with more than one judge, both may appear in the role. Sometimes, these templates are mixed, resulting in a black man or a white woman playing the part. American Judges are often stereotyped as being from either New England (due to many renowned law schools there) or the South (as an extension of the SimpleCountryLawyer archetype). British judges, meanwhile, tend to be stereotyped as rather posh, as a legacy of how the British class system worked until the 1980s. [[note]]The shift towards neoliberalism under UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher caused significant changes to the British class system, [[TwoDecadesBehind but old stereotypes still persist today]], at least to an extent.[[/note]] The stereotyped British judge is probably also rather out-of-date, having to ask the clerk of the court to explain things such as "rock music" and "the internet". Very unlikely to be black or female.

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': The murder trial central to the plot is being presided over by Judge Heller, a stickler for proper procedure who repeatedly jails the title character (a lawyer who needed six tries to pass the bar exam) for contempt of court for failure to follow said procedures. However, once Vinny starts following the rules, Heller turns out to be perfectly fair and reasonable.

In American works, this archetype is generally either a [[BlackBossLady no-nonsense black woman]] or a gruff white man. When there's a tribunal or another situation with more than one judge, both may appear in the role. Sometimes, these templates are mixed, resulting in a black man (often a BaldBlackLeaderGuy) or a white woman playing the part. American Judges are often stereotyped as being from either New England (due to many renowned law schools there) or the South (as an extension of the SimpleCountryLawyer archetype). British judges, meanwhile, tend to be stereotyped as rather posh, as a legacy of how the British class system worked until the 1980s. [[note]]The shift towards neoliberalism under UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher caused significant changes to the British class system, [[TwoDecadesBehind but old stereotypes still persist today]], at least to an extent.[[/note]] The stereotyped British judge is probably also rather out-of-date, having to ask the clerk of the court to explain things such as "rock music" and "the internet". Very unlikely to be black or female.

* ''Film/GhostbustersII'': After accidentally causing a major New York blackout, the Ghostbusters are very dismayed to learn their case will be heard by the Honorable Judge Stephen Wexler ("They call him 'The Hammer.'") He's a fire-and-brimstone older man who takes sadistic glee in sentencing them to jail (until he's interrupted by a couple old defendants with a grudge, that is).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' has the elderly Judge Claude Frollo, with a stern demeanor and a gaunt face- as well as an incredibly cruel and evil personality.

* ''Music/TheWall'': In "The Trial", Pink is judged by Judge Worm, a harsh and rather vulgar judge who sentences Pink to be "exposed before [his] peers" and orders the titular wall torn down. Whether he's Pink's distorted perception of an actual judge or all in Pink's head is [[AmbiguousSituation left deliberately ambiguous]].
* The music video for ''[[Music/SammyHagar I Can't Drive 55]]'' features an older white man as a judge who has absolutely no tolerance for Sammy's antics.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has the elderly Judge Claude Frollo, with a stern demeanor and a gaunt face- as well as an incredibly cruel and evil personality.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Darius Zackly is an old, bearded white man who wears glasses. He is responsible for passing judgements on conflicts between the military branches, and does so with an incredibly impartial demeanor. Later played with, though, as [[spoiler:he actually gleefully tortures his captured nobles.]]

* Judge Gardner in ''Film/{{Rimfire}}''. Very much a hardliner on the importance of law and order, and on citizens doing their civic duty, he is nonetheless not a HangingJudge. It is obvious that he is dissatisfied when the KangarooCourt hands down a guilty verdict in the The Abilene Kid's trial, but a legal verdict has been returned and he has no choice but to see it carried out.

* In ''Literature/TheStand'' by Creator/StephenKing, Lloyd Henreid, a small-time crook who got in way over his head and is on trial for multiple murders, is told by his lawyer that the judge he's going to draw is a career judge who is over 70 years old. Lloyd is very upset, because he knows such a judge is pretty much going to be this trope. The lawyer also informs Lloyd that judges like this, in their younger days, used to make the rounds of their territories on horseback, and standard operating procedure was to have a speedy trial and then break out the rope. Sure enough, Lloyd gets sentenced to the electric chair.

** The show's other recurring judge character is Constance Harm, a parody of the above mentioned ''Series/JudgeJudy''. She is [[HangingJudge not as reasonable as Snyder]]; in her first appearance, she sentences Homer and Bart to be [[ChainedHeat handcuffed to each other]].

* Subverted with the Judge from the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series. While he certainly looks the part, he's pretty indecisive, easily swayed, and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} very eccentric]]. It should be noted that judges have a different set of stereotypes in Japan from the ones they have in the West.