Editing Puisne judge (section)

==Use==
The term is used almost exclusively in [[common law]] jurisdictions: the [[England and Wales|jurisdiction of England and Wales]] within the [[United Kingdom]]; [[Australia]], including its states and territories; [[Canada]], including its provinces and territories; [[India]], including its states and territories; [[Pakistan]], its provinces, and [[Azad Kashmir]]; the [[British Overseas Territory]] of [[Gibraltar]]; [[Kenya]]; [[Sri Lanka]]; [[South Africa]] in rural provinces and [[Law of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]. In Australia, the most senior judge after a chief justice in superior state courts is referred to as the "senior puisne judge".<ref name="aus">{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_reg/rotsc1971281/s5.10.html|title=Rules of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 1971|website=Australian Legal Information Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107175000/http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_reg/rotsc1971281/s5.10.html|archive-date=2018-01-07|url-status=dead|access-date=July 13, 2017}}</ref>

Use is rare outside of, usually internal, court (judicial) procedural decisions as to which {{Not a typo|judge(s)}} will sit or has sat in hearings or appeals. The term is dated in detailed, academic case law analyses and, to varying degree direct applicability in higher courts.<ref name=aus/>{{Failed verification|date=January 2024}}{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The term excludes the court's chief {{Not a typo|judge(s)}}/{{Not a typo|justice(s)}}; any seniormost judges, often specialists or a managerial head, sitting ''[[ex officio]]'' (by virtue of their office) as such in the court for which they have duties below; and any technically junior judges who may have been called to serve in a higher court, whom [[law report]]s and transcripts customarily specify as "sitting in" a [[judicial panel]] of a higher court or "sitting as" a judge of that court.