As invented in Judge Dredd Comics:
encyclopedia.laborlawtalk...udge_Dredd
The Judge system
The Judges are police, judge (and executioner if necessary), and their word is absolute. The only thing preventing them from being a totally oppressive police state is the psychological conditioning they receive - this has been subverted on several occasions, including by the insane Judge Cal who, once he had absolute power, then proceeded to behave much like his namesake Caligula, even appointing his pet goldfish as his Deputy Chief Judge. Dredd, having missed the conditioning due to being out of Mega-City One at the time, was the leader of the rebel Judges who overthrew Cal; after Cal's death at the hands of Fergee, a dweller of the Mega-City's undercity, he was offered the job of Chief Judge but refused it, as he believed he was needed far more out on the streets. On another occasion, the Judges were again subverted from their role of protectors of the citizens of Mega-City One by the Sisters of Death, who, through the body of psi judge Kit Agee, used supernatural powers to create the Dark Judges' dystopian state of Necropolis. Once more, Dredd, who had again avoided mental conditioning by being away from the city (this time due to having resigned from the Judges and taken The Long Walk (see Tale of the Dead Man)), and a small force of rebel Cadet Judges as well as Judge Anderson, were able to win the day.
Mega-City One's population lives in gigantic tower blocks, each holding some fifty thousand or so people, and each named after some historical person. (There is usually some ironic joke in the name of the block in which a particular story takes place.) A number of stories feature rivalries between different blocks, on one occasion (recounted in the story "Block Mania") breaking into shooting wars between them; the Judges' arbitrary and total powers reflect the difficulty of maintaining any order at all in the Mega-City environment.
Various versions of the Judge system hold power in all the Mega-Cities of Dredd's world.
encyclopedia.laborlawtalk...udge_Dredd
The Judge system
The Judges are police, judge (and executioner if necessary), and their word is absolute. The only thing preventing them from being a totally oppressive police state is the psychological conditioning they receive - this has been subverted on several occasions, including by the insane Judge Cal who, once he had absolute power, then proceeded to behave much like his namesake Caligula, even appointing his pet goldfish as his Deputy Chief Judge. Dredd, having missed the conditioning due to being out of Mega-City One at the time, was the leader of the rebel Judges who overthrew Cal; after Cal's death at the hands of Fergee, a dweller of the Mega-City's undercity, he was offered the job of Chief Judge but refused it, as he believed he was needed far more out on the streets. On another occasion, the Judges were again subverted from their role of protectors of the citizens of Mega-City One by the Sisters of Death, who, through the body of psi judge Kit Agee, used supernatural powers to create the Dark Judges' dystopian state of Necropolis. Once more, Dredd, who had again avoided mental conditioning by being away from the city (this time due to having resigned from the Judges and taken The Long Walk (see Tale of the Dead Man)), and a small force of rebel Cadet Judges as well as Judge Anderson, were able to win the day.
Mega-City One's population lives in gigantic tower blocks, each holding some fifty thousand or so people, and each named after some historical person. (There is usually some ironic joke in the name of the block in which a particular story takes place.) A number of stories feature rivalries between different blocks, on one occasion (recounted in the story "Block Mania") breaking into shooting wars between them; the Judges' arbitrary and total powers reflect the difficulty of maintaining any order at all in the Mega-City environment.
Various versions of the Judge system hold power in all the Mega-Cities of Dredd's world.
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