Judge Volt

Judge Volt
Chief Judge Volt (painted by Carlos Ezquerra)
Publication information
Publisher	Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD prog 917 (1994)
Created by	John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
In-story information
Full name	Hadrian Volt

Chief Judge Hadrian Volt is a fictional character appearing in the Judge Dredd comic strip, published by British anthology 2000 AD. He was chief judge of Mega-City One between 2116 and 2121 (appearing in the comic between 1994 and 1999).

Volt became a street judge in 2096 and fought in the First Robot War and the Apocalypse War. He later served in the SJS and in the Aliens Bureau. In 2114 he was promoted to chief of Sector 53, where his outstanding administrative ability and judgement reduced violent crime in his sector to the second lowest level in the city.

When Chief Judge McGruder resigned her office in 2116, there was no Council of Five to choose a new chief judge in the normal way, since she had dissolved the Council years earlier. Therefore she ordered that her successor be elected by the city's 400 Senior Judges. After careful consideration, Volt decided to stand as a candidate in this unprecedented election, and polled a clear majority of the votes (208), defeating three other candidates, including Judge Dredd himself. (Ironically most people had believed that Dredd would win, but – as Dredd himself observed – he had annoyed too many judges over the years. Dredd even voted for Volt himself!)

Volt immediately set about instituting significant constitutional reforms. He reinstated the Council and permanently established the new system of electing chief judges. In 2117 he restored the obsolete office of Mayor of Mega-City One and created a council of elected citizens to give the people more say in how they were governed (although ultimate power continued to reside with the Justice Department). He also established a policy of encouraging the judges to foster better relations with the community.

He was also the author of two books: Riding the Apocalypse, a history of the Apocalypse War, and Just Justice, setting out his ideas for legal and political reforms.

In many ways Volt proved to be an outstanding chief judge. But when the city was overrun in the Second Robot War of 2121 he blamed himself for having failed to do enough to prevent it. Even when the war was ultimately won, the burden of personal responsibility weighed too heavily on his mind for him to bear. He waited until the bitter end, and then at the moment of victory he shot himself.