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A special master, in law, is an authority appointed by a judge to make sure that judicial orders are actually followed.
At common law, there were "masters in chancery," who acted in aid of the Equity Courts. There were also "masters in lunacy," who conducted inquiries on the same nature as modern civil commitment proceedings.
A special master is an "adjunct" to a federal court, and Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a federal court to appoint a master, with the consent of the parties, to conduct proceedings and report to the Court.[1]
United Kingdom
In the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, such an official is usually simply referred to as a Master. Special Masters as a whole provide a mechanism to relieve the burdens related to a heavy caseload for judges.
United States
Cases involving special masters often involve situations where it has been shown that governmental entities are violating civil rights. High-profile cases in recent years where special masters have been utilized include some in which states have been ordered to upgrade their prison facilities, which were held to violative the constitutional provision barring cruel and unusual punishment; and state mental hospitals, which have been found so substandard as to violate the rights of their inmates.
The role of the special master (who is frequently, but not necessarily, an attorney) is to supervise those falling under the order of the court to make sure that the court order is being followed, and to report on the activities of the entity being supervised in a timely matter to the judge or the judge's designated representatives. Special masters have been controversial in some cases, and are often cited by conservatives in the United States as an example of judicial supremacy over the other branches of government. For example, at times they have ordered the expenditure of funds over and above the amount appropriated by a legislative body for the remediation of the situation being examined. To this point, their powers have generally be found to be valid and their remedies upheld by United States courts.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, then Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Kenneth R. Feinberg as special master to oversee the dispensation of an $11 billion victim's compensation fund.
The United States Supreme Court will normally assign original jurisdiction disputes (cases such as disputes between states that are first heard at the Supreme Court level) to a special master to conduct what amounts to a trial court (the taking of evidence and a ruling). The Supreme Court can then assess the master's ruling much as a normal appeals court would, rather than conduct the trial itself.
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