Council of Five

This article is about the Judge Dredd comic strip. For the Japanese history article, see Council of Five Elders.

The Council of Five is a fictional legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 (1978).

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 Dan Francisco.^[3] Until 2117 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. However, 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 may still attend meetings.^[4] The deputy chief judge 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 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 2132 he finally consented to a permanent appointment.^[12]

As of 2011 (or 2133 in the comic), the current members are Judges Dredd, Niles, Buell, Stalker and Vass.^[13]

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

Lists of Members of Council of Five since 2101

Alphabetical

Name	Position held	Joined Council	Left Council
Benedetto	Unknown at time of joining Council	2132	Resigned, 2132
	Head of PSU (appointed after joining Council)
Benitez	Joint head of Forensics	2131	Resigned, 2132
Buell	Head of SJS	2123	Resigned, 2131
		2132	Incumbent
Brufen	Head of Tek-Division	2108	Assassinated, 2110
Cardew	Unknown before 2132	2131	Resigned, 2132
	Deputy Chief Judge (2132)
Creed	Street judge	2104	Dismissed, 2108
Dredd	Street judge	2122	Served only one day
		2132	Incumbent
Ecks	Head of Psi Division	2101	Killed in Apocalypse War, 2104
Griffin	Chief Judge (2101–2104)	2101	Assassinated, 2104
Grimlet	Street judge	2108	Killed in action, 2112
Herpert	Street judge	2104	Dismissed, 2108
Herriman	Deputy Chief Judge	2116	Assassinated, 2120
Hershey	Street judge until 2120	2108	Elected chief judge, 2122
	Deputy Chief Judge (2120–2122)
	Chief Judge (2122–2131)
Hollister	Undercover judge	2123	Resigned, 2131
McGruder	Head of SJS until 2104	2101	Resigned 2108
	Chief Judge after 2104
	Chief Judge (2112–2116)	Council suspended	Council restored 2116
McTighe	Head of Tek-Division	2120	Resigned, 2131
Millan	Unknown	2131	Resigned, 2132
Niles	Head of SJS until 2122	2116	Resigned, 2131
	Head of PSU after 2122
	Head of PSU	2132	Incumbent
Odell	Tutor at Academy of Law	2110	Suicide, 2112
Omar	Head of Psi Division	2104	Killed in action, 2108
Pepper	Deputy Chief Judge	2101	Assassinated, 2103
Quimby	Head of Accounts	2101	Killed in Apocalypse War, 2104
Ramos	Street judge	2117	Arrested, 2130
Renbow	Head of Tek-Division	2104	Dismissed, 2108
Rolf	Unknown	2132	Resigned, 2132
Shenker	Head of Psi Division	2108	Resigned, 2122
Sherman	Unknown	2132	Resigned, 2132
Silver	Chief Judge (2108–2112)	2108	Assassinated, 2112
Sinfield	Deputy Chief Judge	2131	Became chief judge, 2132
	Chief Judge (2132)
Stalker	Unknown	2131	Resigned, 2132
		2132	Incumbent
Vass	Unknown	2132	Incumbent
Volt	Chief Judge (2116–2121)	2116	Political reform, 2117
Unknown	Unknown	2103	Killed in Apocalypse War, 2104

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 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–present Chief judge: Francisco (2132–present) SJS Judge Buell Judge Dredd PSU Judge Niles Judge Stalker Judge Vass

Statistics

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

• Violent deaths: Of the 28 ex-councillors on the above lists, 11 were removed from the Council by violent death. 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 3 years, compared with nearly 6 years among ex-councillors overall.
• Terms of office: The longest term served on the Council (since 2101) was 15 years, by Judge Niles. 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: Eight 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). Ten were heads of their divisions: the SJS, Psi Division and Tek Division providing three judges each, and Accounts one. (The backgrounds of eight members are not known.)

Other members

• Judge Goodman, founder of the Council.^[14]
• Judge Cal, chief judge between Goodman and Griffin.^[15]
• Judge Solomon, one of the original members of the Council (mid 21st century) and Goodman's predecessor as chief judge (2051–2057).^[16]
• Judges Judd, Arlow, Johanssen and Lowther, former members of the Council during the Atomic Wars of 2070 (with Solomon).^[17]

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.

References

1. ^ 2000 AD #86
2. ^ 2000 AD #457
3. ^ 2000 AD #1693
4. ^ 2000 AD #957 and 1545
5. ^ 2000 AD #1545 and Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 3 #53
6. ^ 2000 AD prog 1649
7. ^ 2000 AD #1628
8. ^ 2000 AD #1515
9. ^ ^{a b} 2000 AD #706
10. ^ 2000 AD #916 and 957
11. ^ 2000 AD #1179
12. ^ 2000 AD #1693
13. ^ 2000 AD #1693 and 1700
14. ^ 2000 AD #1515
15. ^ 2000 AD #86 and 89
16. ^ 2000 AD #1515
17. ^ 2000 AD #1516

• 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; Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 3 #40, 53.