During these ימים נוראים we finish the 11th blessing of the amida with the words המלך המשפט. What does this exactly, literally mean? Melech and mishpat are both nouns, so it would seem that we need a verb or adjective in place (as is the case in the usual formulation of מלך אוהב צדקה ומשפט, or the other yamim nora'im addition, המלך הקדוש).
Gmar chatima tova to all!
This question is in fact dealt with by Rashi on the spot, who says that the first ה is redundant, and this has the same meaning as מלך המשפט, citing scriptural precedents for this phrasing. Basically - this is an unusual, anomalous usage which חז"ל chose for some reason, but the normative way of saying this would be מלך המשפט - king of justice.
Thanks to @rosends for bringing this discussion to my attention. Note that one commenter there was confused by the parallel to הא-ל הקדוש, but that's incorrect. הקדוש is an adjective and so two letters ה is the normal way to phrase that.
