Lord Chief Justice

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, and the presiding judge of Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, and of the King's Bench Division of the High Court.

Originally, the three high common law courts, the Court of Common Pleas, the Court of the King's (or Queen's) Bench, and the Court of the Exchequer, each had their own Chief Justice. That of the Exchequer Court was styled as the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and that of the Common Pleas was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, leaving the head of the King's (or Queen's) Bench to be known simply as the Lord Chief Justice. The courts, however, were combined in 1873, leaving a single Chief Justice.

There is also a Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The Lord Chief Justice's equivalent in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the post of Lord Justice-General in the High Court of Justiciary.

Lord Chief Justices, King's Bench

Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas

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