Judges in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift have slightly different roles than their predecessors from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. At the start of every battle a Judge will appear and proclaim which action will be Forbidden for the duration of combat. The clan will also be allowed to inform the judge which of their Privileges they would like to use. After a successful battle a Judge may award the clan bonus loot and items.
If a clan member chooses not to abide by the law system and performs a forbidden action, the Judge will depart the play field. It is the presence of Judges that allow clan members to be revived and privileges to be used, so violations of the law are not as painful as in Tactics Advance but can still have dire consequences.
Since the Judge is tied to specific clans, the enemy is not affected by laws the way they were in the first game. Whether or not opposing clans have their own Judges and laws to follow is never revealed. Judges also have the ability to swear in new clan members to the clan, although the only instances seen of this are when Luso Clemens is sworn into Clan Gully, and later when he tries to convince Ghi Yelgi to join the clan and save his life. It is also known that Judges can also be barred from battle, though the usage of this ability has been only demonstrated by Illua and Ewen. It was discovered in a later battle against Illua, however, that this effect could be countered by the use of a magic card created by Ezel Berbier. For this to happen, however, a certain mission involving Ezel must be completed, earning said card as a reward.
Unlike the Judges in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy XII, the judges of this game are magic golems exclusive to the continent of Jylland.
Origin of the Judges[]
Lezaford gives Luso a text on the origins of the Judges:
That the existence of Judges is unique to Jylland can be ascertained by looking at both their role and their roots.
A Judge is a magickal creature—a golem, if you will—made solely for the purpose of forming contracts of law.
His goals were nothing less that the adjudication of war. With the Judges in direct control of combat, profitless battles could be avoided, and peace preserved.
However, the people of his day rebelled against the strong arm of the Judges' law, until it was decided that the Judges' law would be upheld and their benefits received only by those who wished to swear the Judge oath—and so it remains to this day.