Taqiuddin al Subki on the limits of the Judges in his time

Imam Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756/1355), Shafi'i Chief Qadi in Damascus during the middle part of the fourteenth century, explained:

 “In our generation, a judge who receives a general appointment from the sultan must rule according to the predominant view (mashhur) of his school if he is a muqallid (follower of a Madhhab); and according to his own interpretation if he has attained the level of ijtihad. But if the sultan appoints him to rule according to a specific school of law (Madhhab), he should not deviate from this school. If he is a mujtahid in his school, he can choose from among the opinions in the school on the basis of strong evidence. But he should not breach the boundaries of that school, whether he is a muqallid or a mujtahid, for the terms of his appointment limit him in this respect. Nor should he rule according to a weak minority view in his school, even if he thinks it to be the correct opinion, because this too amounts to a breach of school boundaries." {Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Kitab al-Fatawa (Cairo: Matba'at al-Qudsi, 1937), vol. 2, 13. Cited, with minor changes, by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974/1566), al-Fatawa al-Kubra al-Fiqhiyya (Cairo, n.d.), vol. 3, 317; as well as by the anonymous author of a post-Mamluk treatise entitled al-Risala fi al-Taqlid}