They live like feudal lords. They are surrounded by obsequious servants.

They believe it is our privilege to pay the £5 million a year it costs to maintain them in excessive luxury.

These men are the judges hearing cases at crown courts outside London, staying in what are quaintly, if misleadingly, known as 'judges' lodgings'.

Not for them the misery of staying in a suite in a first class hotel.

Oh no, no! They argue they need a special privacy for themselves and their assistants to work in.

And while, understandably, they need to be distanced from jurors and witnesses, they argue this would not be possible in a hotel.

The solution? The aforementioned judges' lodgings. The cost? Hold your breath.

There are 32 in England and Wales, and one of them is here in Sussex for the benefit of judges working at Lewes Crown Court.

It is Telscombe Manor, part of which dates back to the 12th Century, in Telscombe village. It costs a not immodest £6,082 a week.

M'lud may regard that as good value as long as you and I are paying for it, but I have no doubt any of Brighton's best hotels could cut that by at least two thirds.

The most expensive judges' lodgings are in Leeds at Carr Manor, a grade II listed Victorian house with ten bedrooms costing more than £400,000 a year to maintain.

But the most uneconomic, because it was used for only five weeks of the year at the last count, is a 1970s penthouse flat at Mold in Flintshire overlooking the Clwyd Hills. It cost more than £1,800 a night for each judge.

But it is a luxurious perk which could be coming to an end. Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, is studying a value for money review and will be looking hard at any lodgings costing more than £2,500 a week.

Of the 32, only two, in Manchester and Warwick, come within this limit. Of course, judges will fight furiously to head off any attempt to downgrade their accommodation.

However, Lord Irvine himself is no slouch at spending public money. The much criticised bill for redecorating his official residence in the House of Lords in 1998 was £650,000.

Even Lewes Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has entered the fray, likening the arrangements to the 19th rather than the 21st century and quite rightly pointing to the incongruity of such luxuries at a time when legal aid for ordinary mortals is being cut back.

Improving the justice system should mean becoming a judge is a straightforward career progression based on ability. It is an anachronism that judges expect to be treated like pampered gods, surrounded byminions dancing to their every tune.

Does Lord Irvine have the stomach to change it all?