Religion: indeterminate
Name: unnamed judge
Classification:
villain
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Action Comics (vol. 1) #2 (July 1938): "Revolution in San Monte, Part 2"
Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
Number of Appearances: 1
Enemy of: Lois Lane
Occupation: judge
Nation: San Monte
Gender: male
An unnamed judge appeared only in panel 8 of page 8 in Action Comics #2 (July 1938). The judge presides in a court in the small South American republic of San Monte.
The judge's role in this story is that he sentences Lois Lane to be executed the next morning. How did this happen?
Lois Lane and Clark Kent were sent by their editor (George Taylor) to cover the war in San Monte. A spy named Lola Cortez hid a certain document in Lois Lane's hotel room. When soldiers arrived at the hotel and searched all the rooms, the found the stolen military document. The soldiers placed Lois under military arrest. In the very next panel, as the narration tells us, "sentence is passed."
The judge calmly declares, "It is the judgement of this court that you shall be executed at dawn for espionage!"
Justice certainly seems to be swift in San Monte! At least during war time, anyway. One can't help but conclude that this just a kangaroo court and that the verdict was essentially pre-determined. After all, Lois really is innocent of the crime she is accused of, she apparently had no opportunity to present a defense, and the verdict seems ruthlessly excessive, particularly.
Any judge, even in the most backward, war-torn nation, should be expected to do a better job than this. This judge simply seems complicit in the military's desire to railroad a foreigner to death on unprovable charges. Given the severity of the sentence this judge passed and his obvious complicity in the proceedings, it seems appropriate to classify him as a "villain" and not simply a "supporting character."
The judge's motivations for doing all this remain unknown. His reasons may well tie into the inscrutable reasons for San Monte's civil war.
Action Comics (vol. 1) #2 (July 1938): "Revolution in San Monte, Part 2" (1-panel cameo)
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- https://www.comics.org/issue/301/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=1321