But the job market for judges is rather flat, because every new judgeship position in the U.S. Although generally only a bachelor's degree and some related experience is required to be a judge, most judges are lawyers. Today's judges are either appointed officials or elected by the people. Judges often were paid off by litigants, even if the judges were members of the clergy.
In the Middle Ages, dishonesty continued to plague the judiciary. During one era in Egypt, convicted judges had their noses cut off. But if a judge was caught in a misdeed, the punishment could be severe.
And judges were often dishonest or abused power when it served their needs, namely when society wasn't running so smoothly. People often tried to bribe the judges or sway their opinion through flattery in order to avoid harsh sentences. The cases a judge might oversee were the same as today: murder, robbery, property ownership and so on. But by the middle kingdom (around 1500 B.C.E.), there were official judges, and a judgeship was typically passed down from father to son. ĭuring the old kingdom in ancient Egypt (3000 B.C.E.), there were no official judges, but cases were tried before priests and scribes. Inns here typically offered communal sleeping, although private rooms started to become more common. In late-medieval England, innkeepers were members of the upper class and influential citizens. ĭuring medieval times, monks became de facto innkeepers, hosting travelers trekking long distances on religious pilgrimages. Unfortunately for the honest innkeepers, the laws were written with the assumption the innkeeper was guilty. (Given their bad character, some experts say the Biblical Mary and Joseph likely were seeking shelter in a guest room, not an inn.) Because of such skullduggery, Roman law is filled with punishments for these types of offenses. Innkeepers often colluded with robbers and supplied guests with prostitutes. Inns offered spartan accommodation in communal sleeping rooms, with space outside to tie up animals. During the Roman Empire, most travelers actually stayed in guest rooms set aside in private homes.
DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty ImagesĪs we said in our introduction, innkeepers had a shady reputation in antiquity.