Council of Five

The Council of Five is a legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 (1978), when it was said to simply be a court for senior judges: "a council of five." When it appeared again in prog 182 (1980), it was then said to be the governing body of Mega-City One.

The Council is the highest lawmaking body of Mega-City One and has sovereign power. It is also the court which tries Mega-City judges who are accused of breaking the law. A unanimous verdict is required to convict.^[1]

Members of the Council are appointed or dismissed by the chief judge,^[2] currently (as of April 2016) Barbara Hershey.^[3] Originally the chief judge chaired council meetings and had the right of veto, and if the offices of chief judge and deputy chief judge were both vacant, the Council chose the new chief judge from among their number.^[2] However in the 1995 story "The Decision," set in 2117, the constitution was changed, so that the chief judge is no longer a member of the Council but is now separate (it is not clear whether the chief judge's veto was preserved); however the chief judge will usually still attend meetings.^[4] The deputy chief judge (if one has been appointed) now chairs meetings, unless the chief judge is present.^[5] The appointment of a deputy chief judge must have the consent of the Council.^[6] The chief judge is now elected by up to 1,200 senior judges, instead of being chosen by the Council.^[7] (See also the Chief Judge article for additional details.)

The Council was created by Judge Goodman when he became chief judge in 2057, initially as a guiding committee.^[8] In 2112, Chief Judge McGruder suspended the Council and ruled alone.^[9] The Council was reinstated in 2116 by her successor, Judge Volt.^[10]

Judge Dredd himself always declined a seat on the Council for most of his career, although he sat temporarily in a vacant seat for the trial of Judge Edgar in 2122, to make up a quorum.^[11] However in the last episode of "Tour of Duty" (2010; set in 2132) Dredd finally consented to a permanent appointment, only because Chief Judge Francisco insisted.^[3] When Francisco resigned two years later, Dredd announced that he was leaving the Council, and advised the other councillors to do so as well, in order to give incoming Chief Judge Hershey a fresh start.^[12] However Hershey kept them on her "interim council."^[13]

The Council of Five in 2102 (drawn by Brian Bolland, 1980). Left to right: Quimby, McGruder, Griffin, Pepper, Ecks.

The Council in 2070

Origins episode 12 (2006) showed the Council just before the Atomic Wars broke out, in 2070.^[14] This is the oldest depicted Council of Five.

The members shown were Arlow, Johanssen, Lowther, Judd, and Solomon. The first three have only appeared in that issue. The Chief Judge was not a member of the Council, but attended meetings. It is not known when this arrangement was changed to have the chief judge as a member of the Council, which had happened by 2101 (as seen in prog 86).

Lists of Members of Council of Five since 2101

These lists begin with the characters who appeared in the first episode of Judge Dredd to name every member of the Council, "Block War," published in 1980 (prog 182).

By person

Chronological

2101–2103 Chief Judge Griffin Deputy Chief Judge Pepper Psi-Judge Ecks SJS Judge McGruder Accounts Judge Quimby 2103–2104 Chief Judge Griffin Psi-Judge Ecks SJS Judge McGruder Accounts Judge Quimby Unknown 2104–2108 Chief Judge McGruder Judge Creed Judge Herpert Psi-Judge Omar Tek-Judge Renbow Illustration by Cliff Robinson 2108 (for one day only) Chief Judge McGruder Judge Creed Judge Herpert Tek-Judge Renbow Psi-Judge Shenker 2108–2110 Chief Judge Silver Psi-Judge Shenker Tek-Judge Brufen Judge Grimlet Judge Hershey 2110–2112 Chief Judge Silver Psi-Judge Shenker Judge Grimlet Judge Hershey Judge-Tutor Odell 2112–2116 Council suspended Chief Judge McGruder sole ruler Judge Hershey acting chief judge, 2114 and 2115 Judge Greel acting chief judge, 2116 2116 Interim Council Psi-Judge Shenker Judge Hershey SJS Judge Niles 2116–2117 Council of Five restored Chief Judge Volt Deputy Chief Judge Herriman Psi-Judge Shenker Judge Hershey SJS Judge Niles 2117–2120 Chief judge: Volt (2116–2121) Deputy Chief Judge Herriman Psi-Judge Shenker Judge Hershey SJS Judge Niles Judge Ramos 2120–2122 Deputy Chief Judge Hershey Psi-Judge Shenker SJS Judge Niles Judge Ramos Tek-Judge McTighe 2122 (for one day only) Chief Judge Hershey PSU Judge Niles Judge Ramos Tek-Judge McTighe Judge Dredd 2122–2123 Chief judge: Hershey (2122–2131) PSU Judge Niles Judge Ramos Tek-Judge McTighe Vacant Vacant

2123–2130 PSU Judge Niles Judge Ramos Tek-Judge McTighe SJS Judge Buell Judge Hollister 2130–2131 PSU Judge Niles Tek-Judge McTighe SJS Judge Buell Judge Hollister Unknown (possibly vacant) 2131–2132 Chief judge: Francisco (2131–2132) Deputy Chief Judge Sinfield Tek-Judge Benitez Judge Cardew Judge Millan Judge Stalker 2132 Chief judge: Sinfield (2132) Tek-Judge Benitez Judge Cardew Judge Millan Judge Stalker Vacant 2132 Deputy Chief Judge Cardew Judge Millan Judge Benedetto Judge Rolf Judge Sherman 2132–2134 Chief judge: Francisco (2132–2134) SJS Judge Buell Judge Dredd PSU Judge Niles Judge Stalker Judge Vass 2134 SJS Judge Buell Judge Dredd Judge Stalker Vacant Vacant 2134 Interim Council (chief judge: Hershey) SJS Judge Buell Judge Dredd Judge Stalker Judge Bachmann Judge Folger 2134–2136 SJS Judge Buell Tek-Judge McTighe Unidentified man Unknown Unknown 2136–2137 Tek-Judge McTighe Unknown (Buell or Waldron) Unknown Unknown Unknown 2137 Judge Farrow Judge Hernandez SJS Judge Waldron Judge Wriggly Unidentified man 2137 to present Judge Beeny Judge Farrow Judge Hernandez SJS Judge Waldron Unidentified man

Statistics

The following relates only to those individuals listed above (i.e. post-2101):

• Violent deaths: Of the 37 ex-councillors on the above lists, 16 were removed from the Council by violent death (43%). Three of those were killed by the Dark Judges (Grimlet, Herriman and Silver). Four were killed during the Apocalypse War. Their average term of office was just under 3½ years, compared with over six years among ex-councillors overall.
• Corruption and incompetence: Of the councillors listed, three were corrupt – Sinfield, Ramos, and Bachmann – of which the first two were sent to the penal colony on Titan. Three of the councillors in 2108 were dismissed for suspect judgement by McGruder; and two, Shenker and Buell, were demoted on separate occasions by Hershey for severe failures in their departments.
• Terms of office: The longest continuous term served on the Council (since 2101) was 15 years, by Judge Niles (who later served a second term of two years). The shortest term was one day, an ad hoc temporary appointment served by Dredd to fill the seat left vacant when Shenker stepped down. If that is not counted, then the next shortest terms are those of Benedetto, Rolf and Sherman, who only served for a few weeks each.
• Chief judges: Four councillors became chief judge (McGruder, Silver, Hershey and Sinfield). Two others joined the Council ex officio because they had become chief judge (Griffin and Volt).
• Backgrounds: Nine councillors were street judges at the time of their elevation to the Council (including Volt and Herriman). The Academy of Law provided four (Griffin, Silver and Pepper were tutors before they became chief and deputy chief judges). Fourteen were heads of their divisions: four from Tek-Division, the SJS and Psi Division providing three judges each, Wally Squad providing two (counting the acting-head), and Accounts and Black Ops one each. (The backgrounds of ten members are not known.)

Other members

• Judge Goodman, founder of the Council.^[8]
• Judge Cal, chief judge between Goodman and Griffin.^[15]

Virgin novels

Although Chief Judge McGruder abolished the Council of Five at the beginning of her second term of office,^[9] some of the Judge Dredd novels published by Virgin Books (1993–1995) still featured the Council during this period. To reconcile this apparent discrepancy, one of the books stated that the Council existed in a purely advisory capacity, with no executive power, and only sat intermittently, as and when required. It consisted of McGruder, Shenker, Hershey, and two others. The identities of the fourth and fifth members varied from book to book, as these characters were frequently killed off. (Since the books were written by four different authors, they were not always consistent with each other, and one book reprised a character a year after he had been killed off in another book.) None of these characters ever appeared in the comics.

In other media

The Council of Five appeared in the 1995 film Judge Dredd. It featured Chief Judge Fargo (with the title "Chief Justice"), Griffin, McGruder, Silver and a judge called Esposito (who was not in the comic). They were all murdered.

In the IDW comic strip set in 2080 the four councillors assisting Chief Judge Goodman were Bellamy, Russell, Wallace (the sole female Council member) and an un-named judge.

References

• References used for lists: 2000 AD #182, 201, 270, 455, 457, 551, 668, 706, 734, 915, 957, 1178, 1179, 1271, 1595, 1633, 1649, 1667, 1674, 1678, 1689, 1693, 1700, 1775, 1783, 1789, 1803, 1806, 1812, 1878, 1943, 1973, 1976; Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 3 #40, 53; Judge Dredd Megazine #365, 367