In the society Judges like Azdak are they a blessing or a curse?

If Judges do their jobs properly and truly dispense justice, they are an integral part of society. Azdak is a fair judge, he is just, and he cares about the people. In the story, Azdak is representative of the TRUTH...... so yes, we need judges who dispense this kind of justice.

Azdak is not a proper or qualified judge.He takes bribes.He is often drunk.

The usual situation in any case like this is that a child should be returned to its real mother – the person who conceived and gave birth to it. Any other decision must surely be a terrible miscarriage of justice.If Michael is returned to his real mother he will be guaranteed a real future. Money, power, possessions. Do Grusha and Azdak have the right to deny him that?If Grusha keeps him, his future is uncertain. Grusha and Simon are not rich. No one knows what will happen in the years after the war.The governor’s wife left Michael behind accidentally. She was in a state of shock her husband had just been killed and there was rioting outside the palace. She was being pressurised to leave and assumed that the nurse was looking after her baby.It could be argued that Grusha stole Michael. She knew who the baby belonged to and that one day his mother would come asking for him. She is being unreasonable in refusing to give him up.He blamed rape on the victim, she apparently raped a man just by existing (her body)

Azdak judges for the people less able to defend themselves. His judgement is a blow to the established way of things. It is an appropriate judgement which fits in with the way in which the world has been turned on its head due to the war.Azdak rules with his heart and not by the rule of law (He sits on the statute book thereby showing his contempt for the written law of the land)The behaviour of the governor’s wife towards Michael is shows she is undeserving as mother. She was more concerned about her dresses and shoes than with the welfare of the baby.She abandoned her baby as she ran to safety. She did not check that the baby was safe.If Grusha had not taken Michael he would have been killed by the iron shirts.Grusha has behaved more like a mother to him than his real mother…she has protected and fed him and sacrificed herself for the sake of the baby. She has given up her chance of happiness with Simon, she has married someone she does not love In order to make Michael’s status legal. She has spent all she has on Michael and personally suffered for his well being.