A Master is a low (or lowest, in some jurisdictions) rank of judge or judicial official in a number of judiciaries, such as those of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and a number of Canadian provinces.
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United Kingdom
The role of a Master in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales is concerned primarily with procedural matters. Such a person is known professionally as, for example, "Master Smith". This is so whether the Master is male or female. A similar type of Master exists in the Court system of Northern Ireland. In the Inns of Court, the members of the governing body are known as "Masters of the Bench" or, more commonly, "benchers". In the context of the functions they perform in that capacity (but not otherwise) they will be known as, for example, "Master Smith" (whether they are male or female). This will be so even if in other contexts they use a higher title: hence, a High Court Judge who is a Master of the Bench will be known in his or her Inn as "Master Smith", in private life as Sir John Smith, and on the bench as Mr Justice Smith; likewise a law lord will be known in the inn as "Master Woolf" even if he is privately and professionally known by the peerage title of "Lord Woolf".
Republic of Ireland
The judicial system of the Republic of Ireland has a judicial official termed “Master of the High Court". The Master is authorised by law to exercise limited functions and powers of a judicial nature within the scope of Article 37 of the Constitution of Ireland. He/she may not exercise any function in several areas including criminal proceedings, the granting of injunctions, bail, custody of children and matters concerning Wards of Court. Though the office of Master of the High court is very old, its powers and functions were redefined by the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995.
Canada
The Superior Courts of several Canadian provinces have Masters, such as the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The jurisdiction of a Master is fixed by provincial statute and they are appointed by the provincial government. As a result, while Masters sit in a superior court, they do not have the “inherent jurisdiction” of the judges of those courts, who are appointed by the dominion government and whose authority is derived from the Constitution of Canada and the Crown. Their jurisdiction is usually limited to procedural and Interlocutory matters heard in chambers. In some places, Masters may sit as "registrars", who rank below Masters in the judicial system. In the Federal Court of Canada, a judicial officer with much the same powers as a Master is called a Prothonotary. A Master is referred to as "Master Smith" or, in court, as "Your Honour".
