"Hanging judge" is an unofficial term for a judge who has gained renown for handing out sentences of death by hanging or perhaps other harsh sentences. While the term is not necessarily negative, it is used to demonstrate a desire for quick, firm justice. A "hanging judge" may be legally mandated, or may not be, in which case he may be presiding over lynchings.

Reputed hanging judges

• Roy Bean, U.S. Justice of the Peace
• Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie
• George Jeffreys in England and Wales
• The Hanging Judges of Manila, known as the Guillotine Club
• Isaac Parker, who had jurisdiction over western Arkansas in the United States from 1875 to 1896. In his twenty-one years he hanged 79 men (during the same period, over 60 U.S. Marshals and Deputy U.S. Marshals were murdered serving in Parker's jurisdiction).
• Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali
• Henry Hawkins, 1st Baron Brampton
• Joseph Needham (judge)
• Albert F. Sabo, allegedly presided over more trials resulting in a death sentence than any other judge in the history of Pennsylvania.

Other uses

• A track on the Sodom album 'Til Death Do Us Unite
• A character in the Bob Dylan song "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" (album: Blood on the Tracks).

See also

• Lynching