which in 2070 had become the highest legislative body. He presided over the Council's meetings and could veto any decision with which he disagreed. He could also appoint and dismiss councillors at will. The Council usually included a deputy chief judge, who would automatically succeed to the highest office in the event of the death of the chief judge. (This occurred when Chief Judge Goodman died and was succeeded by his deputy, Judge Cal.) If there was no deputy then the remaining members of the Council elected a new chief judge from among themselves. (Judge Silver was chosen in this way.) Unfortunately, in Mega-City One's history, there have been occasions when chief judges have abused their considerable power. When Chief Judge McGruder suspended the Council of Five in 2112 and ruled alone there was no mechanism for legally removing her from office when her mental health deteriorated and her decisions became increasingly erratic. She eventually resigned of her own accord in 2116, but by this time the undesirability of vesting too much authority in one individual had become apparent even to the hardline right-wing Judges of Mega-City One. Therefore, in 2117 three significant changes were made to the system by her new successor, Chief Judge Volt. Firstly, he reformed the Council of Five by removing the chief judge from the Council (although it is not clear how their respective powers are divided between the chief judge and the Council, and the chief judge may still attend Council meetings). Since then the deputy chief judge has chaired most meetings of the Council of Five (the first to do so was DCJ Herriman.) The appointment of a deputy chief judge must have the consent of the Council. This has given some measure of independence to the Council in its deliberations, and provided a constitutional method by which an incapable chief judge can be lawfully removed from office. Secondly, the law was changed to make chief judges elected by the 400 Senior Judges of the city, rather than by the Council alone. This innovation had first been introduced ad hoc by McGruder herself in 2116, since there was neither a council nor a deputy chief judge during her term of office. It was unpopular with many judges at the time, but Volt made it a permanent rule. This second reform was deemed necessary because McGruder's own succession to the job in 2112 –