The Recorder of Belfast is one of the two senior County Court judges of Northern Ireland known as Recorders, the other being the Recorder of Derry. The County Court judges in Northern Ireland are senior judicial officers, hearing civil actions, consumer claims, and appeals from magistrates' courts. They are called Family Care Centre judges when hearing appeals from the family proceedings courts and cases under the Children Order 1995. The Recorder of Belfast is deemed to be the Senior County Court Judge in the Province.
History
In 1876, the Recorder of Belfast sat for eight sessions a year, plus four in the Quarter Sessions for County Antrim. In the House of Commons on 2 March 1882 Joseph Biggar asked the Attorney-General for Ireland, W. M. Johnson, whether he was aware that the Recorder of Belfast was paid to act at elections as assessor to the chairman of Harbour Commissioners in Belfast, and whether that was contrary to the County Officers and Courts Act 1877. Johnson replied that the Recorder of Belfast was appointed to the role of assessor long before the 1877 act was enacted and was not affected by its Section 92. The title of Recorder of Belfast was confirmed by Section 102 of the County Courts Act 1959, which provides that "The judge, or one of the judges, assigned to the division which is or includes— the area of the city of Belfast shall be styled the Recorder of Belfast". In 2005, for the first time, a solicitor, Thomas Burgess, was appointed as Recorder, and with effect from April 2006 a new dimension was added to the Recorder's role by the Justice Act 2004, making him the Presiding Judge with responsibility for the County Courts. The Recorder has the civic position of Second Citizen of Belfast, after the Lord Mayor.
Salary
It was reported in June 2010 that with an annual salary of £149, 631, the Recorder was paid more than the British prime minister. This compared with £172,753 paid to each of the nine Justices of the High Court of Northern Ireland. In 2010 the Recorder's salary had been confirmed at 108 per cent of the Series 5 salary, paid to other County Court judges, with the Review Body on Senior Salaries noting that the office-holder was the Presiding Judge of the County Court and also heard non-jury, Diplock trials dealing with terrorism-related offences.
