Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   5. A person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and
      decide controversies and administer justice.

   Note: This title is given to the judges of the common law
         courts in England and in the United States, and extends
         to judicial officers and magistrates of every grade.

   {Bed of justice}. See under {Bed}.

   {Chief justice}. See in the Vocabulary.

   {Justice of the peace} (Law), a judicial officer or
      subordinate magistrate appointed for the conservation of
      the peace in a specified district, with other incidental
      powers specified in his commission. In the United States a
      justice of the peace has jurisdiction to adjudicate
      certain minor cases, commit offenders, etc.

   Syn: Equity; law; right; rectitude; honesty; integrity;
        uprightness; fairness; impartiality.

   Usage: {Justice}, {Equity}, {Law}. Justice and equity are the
          same; but human laws, though designed to secure
          justice, are of necessity imperfect, and hence what is
          strictly legal is at times far from being equitable or
          just. Here a court of equity comes in to redress the
          grievances. It does so, as distinguished from courts
          of law; and as the latter are often styled courts of
          justice, some have fancied that there is in this case
          a conflict between justice and equity. The real
          conflict is against the working of the law; this a
          court of equity brings into accordance with the claims
          of justice. It would be an unfortunate use of language
          which should lead any one to imagine he might have
          justice on his side while practicing iniquity
          (inequity). {Justice}, {Rectitude}. Rectitude, in its
          widest sense, is one of the most comprehensive words
          in our language, denoting absolute conformity to the
          rule of right in principle and practice. Justice
          refers more especially to the carrying out of law, and
          has been considered by moralists as of three kinds:
          (1) Commutative justice, which gives every man his own
          property, including things pledged by promise. (2)
          Distributive justice, which gives every man his exact
          deserts. (3) General justice, which carries out all
          the ends of law, though not in every case through the
          precise channels of commutative or distributive
          justice; as we see often done by a parent or a ruler
          in his dealings with those who are subject to his
          control.

Chief justice \Chief" jus"tice\
   The presiding justice, or principal judge, of a court.

   {Lord Chief Justice of England}, The presiding judge of the
      Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. The
      highest judicial officer of the realm is the Lord High
      Chancellor.

   {Chief Justice of the United States}, the presiding judge of
      the Supreme Court, and Highest judicial officer of the
      republic.

Source : WordNet®

chief justice
     n : the judge who presides over a supreme court