Forms: 3–5 iuggement, 3–6 iugement, (3 gugement, 4 iuiement, iugumen, 5 iugemente, iewge-, iugis-, yuge-, iugment), 6–7 iudge-, iudgment, (-e), 7– judge-, judgment. [a. F. jugement (11th c.), f. juger to JUDGE + -MENT: cf. Pr. jutgamen, med.L. jūdicāmentum.]
1. The action of trying a cause in a court of justice; trial. (Now rare or merged in 3.) Also applied to trial by battle (quot. 1377: see BATTLE sb. 2) or ordeal (Judgement of God).
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1236. To bringe is neueu mid strengþe to stonde to Iugement.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 95. Þanne shulde Ihesus iuste þere-fore bi iuggement of armes, Whether shulde [fonge] þe fruit, þe fende or hymselue.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 340. Unto the town this he besoghte, To don him riht in juggement.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 248. To … bryng him wp out of that vgly sell To iugisment.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. V., 6 b. They all foure were beheaded without iudgement.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 223. A Daniel come to judgement, yea a Daniel.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 270. The Canton of Bern hath three Courts of Judgement.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 5. This caus could not by any pretens bee brought into judgment.
1672. Cowell, Interpr., Judicium Dei, the Judgment of God, so our ancestors call’d those now prohibited Tryals of Ordeal, and its several kinds.
b. Phr. To sit in judgment: (a) lit. to sit as judge, to preside as a judge at a trial; (b) fig. to pass judgment upon (see 6), to judge, criticize (with an assumption of superiority).
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., I. vii. 18 (Harl. MS.). Whanne the Iuge was come down … for to sitte in iugement, he sawe þis siȝt.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 161. The kyng hymself came into Kent, and there sat in iudgement upon the offendors.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, Let. v. We shall all of us have enough to do, without sitting in judgment upon other folks.
2. The trial of moral beings by God (or Christ) as Judge; spec. (in full, the last judgment), the final trial of the subjects of God’s moral government at the end of the world: = DOOM sb. 6. Often in day of judgment: = DOOMSDAY.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 2802. Þan sal þai come til þe last iugement.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. x. 15. It shall be more suffreable to the lond of men of Sodom and Gomor in the day of iugement than to that citee. [Cf. xi. 22, in the day of dome].
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, I. iii. 4. Derke þinges, for þe whiche we shul not be blamed in þe iuggement.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd. 33/1. Of this people shalbe no iugement at the dredefull day of dome.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 188. The valley of Cedron … where the generall Iudgement shall be, if the Iews … may be beleeved.
1794. R. J. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 39. The saints and spirits of the blessed shall take possession of it, and there remain till the general judgment.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr., IV. i. (1864), II. 173. In the Resurrection and Day of Judgement.
3. The sentence of a court of justice; a judicial decision or order in court.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 98/205. Is þis a guod Ivggement?
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6776 (Cott.). Þou sal it quit wit iuiement [v.r. iuggement].
c. 1450. Cov. Myst., xxv. 249. A wondyr case … On wiche we must gyf iewgement.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Henry VIII., 244 b. He confessed the Inditement, and so had Iudgement to bee hanged.
1560. Bible (Genev.), 1 Kings iii. 28. All Israel heard ye iudgement, which the King had iudged.
1647–8. Cotterell, Davila’s Hist. Fr. (1678), 5. If he caused judgment to be given in favour of his mother.
a. 1718. Penn, Tracts, Wks. 1726, I. 501. Judgment is the Determination and Result of Law.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), VI. 342. Judgment that the daughters of Richard and Mathew took only estates for life.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. ii. 160. She appealed from the judgment of the legates to that of the pope.
b. Law. (ellipt.) An assignment of chattels or chattel-interests made by judgment or decree of court; the certificate of such judgment as a security or form of property. Cf. judgement-debt in 13.
‘A Judgment, in consequence of some suit or action in a court of justice, is frequently the means of vesting the right and property of chattel interests in the prevailing party’ (Blackstone, Comm. (1767), II. 436).
1677. Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 36. Bonds given to the King, although … never Recorded in the Exchequer, nor in any Court else; yet these Bonds are a Judgment in Law, and by virtue thereof will be first served.
a. 1718. Penn, Maxims, Wks. 1726, I. 845. As Judgments are paid before Bonds, and Bonds before Bills or Book-debts.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, i. 6. A judgment in goods, taken in early, is never lost.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy Bk. Prop. Law, xxi. 167. Upon a marriage, a mother assigned an unregistered judgment to a trustee for her daughter for life.
4. Divine sentence or decision; spec. a misfortune or calamity regarded as a divine visitation or punishment, or as a token of divine displeasure.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1591 (Gött.). In form of iugement a neu vengans on þaim god sent.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 444. If he discorde from juggement of his God.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. xxiii. That is the ryghtwys Iugement of god sayd the damoysel.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Ezek. xiv. 21. When I send my foure sore iudgements vpon Ierusalem.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. iv. 194. Hence I tooke a thought, This was a Iudgement on me.
1703. Lond. Gaz., No. 3899/1. An Anniversary Thanksgiving … for our Deliverance from the Terrours of that dreadful Judgment [earthquake].
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xxii. (1824), 648. Some people said it was a judgement on him.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. iii. 301. My sins have brought this judgment on the city.
5. Any formal or authoritative decision, as of an umpire or arbiter. (Now rare.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 303. To whils þat oure trewe duellis on jugement.
c. 1386. Chaucer, C. T., Prol. 833. Who so be rebel to my Iuggement Shal paye for al þat by the wey is spent.
c. 1450. Guy Warw. (C.), 672. And all þey seyde wyth oon assente: We graunt wele to yowre yugement.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 14. I will confourme my wyll vnto your iudgemente.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. ii. 291. Iudgement.
1619. Sanderson, Serm. Rom. xiv. 3. § 3. This third Verse: wherein is contained … Saint Pauls judgement; or his counsell rather, and advice.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 292. The show of things unfurled for thy summing-up and judgement.
† b. Astrol. A decision or conclusion as to a future event, deduced from the positions of the heavenly bodies: cf. judicial astrology. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 2. He can al the lawe deme, And yiven every juggement Which longeth to the firmament. Ibid., 107. [Astrology] The which in juggementz acompteth Theffect, what every sterre amonteth.
6. The pronouncing of a deliberate opinion upon a person or thing, or the opinion pronounced; criticism; censure.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 118. Þeo hwule þet te heorte walleð wiðinnen of ureððe, nis þer no riht dom, ne no riht gugement.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 462. Þere nis no iargoun no iangle ne iuggeme[n]tis falce.
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 14. After the Iugement of the men ye are the very myrrour of al vertues.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., Ded. A ij b. The place and dignity, to the which (by the iudgement of al men) you are most worthely called.
1659. Ray, Corr. (1848), 2. You have my designs, and I desire your judgment of them.
1671. Temple, Lett., to Sir J. Temple, Wks. 1731, II. 247. Upon all these Passages … I have fixed my Judgment of the Affairs and Counsels at present in Design.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., III. viii. 31. Scripture … with its selection of facts and moral judgements of them, has been ordained of God to be written thus rather than otherwise.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. vi. We’ll pass no judgement upon that.
7. The formation of an opinion or notion concerning something by exercising the mind upon it; an opinion, estimate.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 345. Wher men of worse liif mai sunner erre in þer jugement.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 45. Ek also Aeremance in juggement To love he bringth of his assent.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 86. This waye in my iudgement doeth excell all the rest.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., III. iv. 45. To morrow, in my iudgement, is too sudden.
1671. R. Bohun, Wind, 113. Wee may better make judgement of these Winds.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. v. § 1. If we would form a judgment of a book.
1799. Mackintosh, Stud. Law Nature & Nations, Wks. 1846, I. 385. To form a sound judgment on political measures.
1884. Gladstone, in Times, 2 Sept., 10/4. In my judgment, we … have no occasion to bow down to any one.
† b. A form of religious opinion or belief; a ‘persuasion.’ Obs.
1653. Cromwell, Sp., in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793), 376. If I did seem to speak any thing, that might seem to reflect upon those of the Presbyterian judgment.
c. 1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1863), 66. Having been before of the Arminian judgement.
1687. Assur. Abb. Lands, 90. I do not herein aim at reflecting upon the Conformists in general; for … there are many sober, vertuous and religeous Persons of that Judgment.
c. Private judgment: the formation of personal or individual opinion (esp. in religious matters), as opposed to the acceptance of a statement or doctrine on authority.
1718. T. Herne (title), Defense of Private Judgment.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, Priest (1872), 115. Liberty of private judgment, if we will consider it, must at all times have existed in the world.
8. The faculty of judging; ability to form an opinion; that function of the mind whereby it arrives at a notion of anything; the critical faculty; discernment.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 11. Men of greter knowleg … and more excellent iugement in holy scripture.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. vii. 58. You haue good iudgement in Horsemanship.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 636. Take heed lest Passion sway Thy Judgement.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., I. 9. ’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
a. 1832. Mackintosh, Revol. 1688, Wks. 1846, II. 264. Clarendon was zealous, but of small judgment.
1870. J. H. Newman, Gram. Assent, II. ix. 347. Aristotle calls the faculty which guides the mind in matters of conduct, by the name of phronesis, or judgment.
b. Good or sound judgment; discernment, discretion, wisdom, understanding, good sense.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., To Rdr. ¶ v. Whose minde is beautified with the amiable iuelles of knowledge, and iudgement.
1612. Rowlands, Knave Harts, 20. Boy, bring good wine, when men of iudgement cals.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 657. A deed … owing more To want of judgment than to wrong design.
† c. transf. A person having good judgment; a competent critic; a ‘judge.’ (Cf. genius, wit.)
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. ii. 208. Hee’s a man good inough, hee’s one o’ th’ soundest iudgement[s] in Troy whosoeuer.
1668. Dryden, Even. Love, Epil. 3. Looking for a judgment or a wit, Like Jews, I saw them scattered through the pit.
1682. Sir T. Browne, Chr. Mor., II. § 4. To undervalue a solid Judgment, because he knows not the genealogy of Hector.
d. Sc. Reason, senses, wits.
1800. Monthly Mag., I. 239. The poor man has lost his judgement.
Mod. He has gone out of his judgement. You nearly frichtit me out o’ my juidgements.
9. Logic. † a. = DISPOSITION 1 c. Obs.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 149. Hitherto wee haue handled the first part of Logicke; called Invention. Wee come now to the second, termed Iudgement.
1678. Phillips (ed. 4), Judgment, the second part of Logick which Disposes of Arguments for Disputation.
b. The action of mentally apprehending the relation between two objects of thought; predication, as an act of the mind. With pl. A mental assertion or statement; a proposition, as formed in the mind.
1704. Norris, Ideal World, II. iii. 125. The old Philosophy … meaning by judgment the union or separation of things by affirmation or negation.
1725. Watts, Logic, II. Introd. The foregoing sentences which are examples of the act of judgment, are properly called propositions: Plato is a philosopher, &c.
1827. Whately, Logic, 59. Judgement is the comparing together in the mind two of the notions or ideas which are the objects of apprehension.
1860. Abp. Thomson, Laws Th., II. § 67. 108. A Judgment, then, is an expression that two notions can or cannot be reconciled.
1864. Bowen, Logic, v. 105. Judgment is that act of mind whereby the relation of one Concept to another … is determined.
10. In various biblical uses, chiefly as rendering of Heb. mishpāt, in its different uses.
a. Justice, righteousness, equity. (= DOOM sb. 8.)
a. 1325. Prose Psalter xlix. 22 [l. 21]. Y shal stablis iugumen oȝayn þy face.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxiii. 23. The waygthtyer mattres of the lawe … iudgement, mercy, and fayth.
1611. Bible, Isa. lxi. 8. For I the Lord loue Iudgement, I hate robbery for burnt offering.
b. A (divine) decree, ordinance, law, statute.
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1343. The iugementz of god ben to vs hid.
1526. Tindale, Rom. xi. 33. Howe incomprehensible are his iudgementes, and hys wayes vnserchable.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxix. 30. I haue chosen the way of treuth, thy iudgmentes haue I layed before me.
1611. Bible, Exod. xxi. 1. Now these are the Iudgements which thou shalt set before them [Coverd., Genev., Bps.’ Bible, lawes].
c. Sentence or decision in a person’s favor; (one’s) right.
1611. Bible, Deut. x. 18. He doeth execute the iudgement of [Coverd. etc., He doeth right vnto] the fatherlesse, and widow, and loueth the stranger. Ibid., Job xxvii. 2. As God liueth, who hath taken away my iudgment [Coverd., my power; R.V. my right].
† 11. The function of a ‘judge’ or ruler (in the ancient Hebrew state: see JUDGE sb. 3). Obs. rare.
1558. Knox, First Blast (Arb.), 41. It is euident, that her [Deborah’s] iudgement or gouernement in Israel was no such vsurped power.
† 12. A district under a jurisdiction. Obs. rare.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 251. The third league called the tenne judgments, (or jurisdictions) and consisting of tenne communities joined in the league … 1498.
13. attrib. and Comb., as judg(e)ment bar, book, call, hour, house, -monger, peal, place, throne; judg(e)ment-cap = BLACK CAP 1; judg(e)ment creditor, a creditor in whose favor a judgment has been given ordering the payment of the debt due to him; judg(e)ment debt, a debt for the payment of which a judgment has been given; so judg(e)ment debtor, a debtor against whom such a judgment has been given; judg(e)ment-like a. (Sc.), ‘applied to what is supposed to be like a token of divine displeasure’ (Jam.); judg(e)ment note (U.S.), a promissory note containing a power of attorney to appear and confess judgment for the sum therein named (Bouvier); judg(e)ment summons, a summons issued in a County Court against a judgement debtor, to show cause why he should not be imprisoned for default in payment; judg(e)ment weather (Sc.) = ‘judgement-like’ weather (see above).
1613. T. Milles, trans. Mexia’s, etc., Treas. Anc. & Mod. T., I. 713/2. They would presume so farre as the *iudgement Bars, and there spread a Gowne on the ground before the Magistrate.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 159. He which will not celebrate it, let him undergo the penalty in the *Judgment-book.
1847. Mary Howitt, Ballads, 207. The last great *judgment-call.
1838. Act 1 & 2 Vict., c. 110 § 11. Providing adequate means for enabling *judgment creditors to obtain satisfaction from the property of their debtors. Ibid., § 17. Every *judgment debt shall carry interest at the rate of four pounds per centum per annum.
1875. Poste, Gaius, III. (ed. 2), 414.
1881. Jrnl. Inst. Bankers, Nov., 563. Every debt proved was made a judgement debt.
1838. Act 1 & 2 Vict., c. 110 § 15. No disposition of the *judgment debtor in the meantime shall be valid … as against the judgment creditor.
1883. Wharton’s Law-Lex. (ed. 7), Judgment-debtor, one against whom a judgment ordering him to pay a sum of money stands unsatisfied.
1526. *Iudgement housse [see JUDGEMENT-HALL 1534].
1708. M. Bruce, Good News in Evil Times, 11. It was *Judgment-like and a token of it to that poor Land, when Godly Baruch … fell into that fault.
1659. D. Pell, Impr. Sea, 475. God … likes not such a *judgement-out-braving temper.
1830. Scott, Doom Devorgoil, II. ii. That sounded like the *judgment-peal.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. i. 109. To old Free-towne, our common *iudgement place.
1888. in Pall Mall Gaz., 1 Sept., 11/2. ‘A man marries on credit, and repents on *judgment summonses.’
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 33. Why should Paul feare to set Christ in the *iudgement throne of God?
1776. Toplady, Hymn, Rock of Ages, iv. When I … See Thee on Thy judgment-throne.
1822. Scott, Pirate, vi. It’s no that I wad shut the door against decent folk, more especially in such *judgment-weather.
Hence Judg(e)mented a. [see -ED2], having judgment or discernment (of a specified kind). (In comb. or with preceding adv.)
1548. Geste, Pr. Masse, in H. G. Dugdale, Life, App. i. (1840), 95. Wel learned and godly judgemented.
1654. Fuller, Two Serm., 68. To make them charitably judgemented of the finall estate of all such Infants.
1821. New Monthly Mag., II. 322. Boys … supreme-judgmented in taws, blood-alleys, and peg-tops.
