How Do I Address the Judge?
How you address the judge depends on which court you are in. Each court has a particular honorific that should be used when addressing the judge, and the judge is properly addressed by that honorific, not as "sir," "ma'am," or something else.
Judges of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are addressed as My Lord, or My Lady, or Your Lordship, or Your Ladyship, depending on the grammatical context.
Masters and registrars of the Supreme Court are addressed as Your Honour. Provincial Court judges are also called Your Honour.
It used to be the case that justices of the peace were properly referred to as Your Worship, but this practice is fading somewhat, and it is now acceptable to refer to them as Your Honour.
You can find information about what to expect in court in How Do I Conduct Myself in Court at an Application? You can find information about court processes in the chapter Resolving Your Legal Problem in Court.
| This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Megan Ellis, QC, June 10, 2019. |
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 JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.
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