The judiciary
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| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| What is the role of the UK judiciary? | Increase independence of the judiciary from government in order for it to be an effective check/balance of the government |
| What is the Supreme Court? | The final court of appeal in the uk which hears appeals on points of law and matters of legal and constitutional importance. Can also use judicial review to assess whether govern,ent has acted in accordance to the law |
| What are the courts of appeal? | Courts that hear appeals from civil and criminal cases |
| What are the High courts? | The court that deals with more complicated civil cases such as adoption and large compensation claims |
| How many judges usually hear the cases? | 5-9 members (always an odd number) |
| What is the most senior judge known as? | The president of the Supreme Court |
| Who is the current president of the Supreme Court? | Robert John Reed |
| How are judges appointed to the Supreme Court? | Judges are appointed via the independent selection commission, who recommend a candidate to be approved or rejected by the lord chancellors |
| What is judicial independence? | The actions and the decisions of judges should not be influence’s by pressure from other branches of government |
| What is judicial neutrality? | The absence of any form of partisanship or politically biased judgement - a refusal to take sides |
| What are some ways the Supreme Court is made judicially independent? | The appointment and pay review of the judiciary is independent |
| What are some concerns raised about the Supreme court’s neutrality? | Due to the political nature of some of these court cases, it is hard to stay completely neutral |
| What are arguments for the judiciary being independent and neutral? | Judges are chosen by an independent commission, judges can not be sacked unless they break the law, judges pay decided by independent pay review body, Supreme Court is physically separate from the government and legislature, judges cannot sit on cases involving an associate or a family member |
| What are the arguments for the judiciary not being independent and neutral? | Due to a very narrow background (white, privately educated) there has been a conservative bias, in 2015, Lady Hoyle pointed out that since her appointment, all other appointments had been white male, courts were criticised by ministers and right wing papers for article 50 ruling, in 2011 lord Phillips broke judicial neutrality when he raised concerns about possible effects of spending cut |
| What are the key functions of the Supreme Court? | Making law, holding public enquiries, declaring common law, interpretation of the law, dispensing justice, establishing case law |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to make law? | Due to the nature of common law, judges have to decide whether they believe such laws exist and how to interpret them |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to hold public enquiries? | Judges are often called to hold public enquiries in matters of widespread concern. This is because they are independent from government so are seen as politically neutral. An example of this is the Macpherson inquiry 1999: to examine the nailing by the police of the murder of Stephen Lawrence |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to declare common law? | Due to there being no written law surround matters such as murder, manslaughter and misconduct in public office, it is for the judges to take the evidence and decide what it right |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to dispense justice? | Lower courts have the responsibility to dispense justice. This implies that all people should be given a fair trial and the law is applied in a fair way. |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to establish case law? | It is not always clear how existing law should be applied to specific cases. Eg. There are laws surrounding racial discrimination and sexism. We expect there will be similar causes that can be dealt with using these laws |
| How does the Supreme Court carry out its function to interpret the law? | The precise meaning of the law isn’t always clear and therefore it is the job of the top three layers of the judiciary to fix it. |
| What is judicial review? | This is the judiciary’s ability to review whether the actions of government are compatible with existing laws. This is often used in relation to human rights issues. If the court finds that a government action or law conflicts with the principles of the Human Rights Act, it issues a ‘declaration of incompatibility’. |
| What is an example of judicial review? | 2010: the court ruled that the government had not acted lawfully when insisting that convicted sex offenders should be registered with the police for life. |
| What were the main provisions of the constitutional reform act of 2005? | A duty on government ministers to uphold the independence of the judiciary, barring them from trying to influence judicial decisions through any special access to judges. An Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman, responsible for investigating and making recommendations concerning complaints about the judicial appointments process, and the handling of judicial conduct complaints within the scope of the Constitutional Reform Act. |
| What does judicial precedent mean? | A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive without going to courts for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. |
| What does ultra vires mean? | Acting or done beyond one's legal power or authority. |
| What is a declaration of incompatibility? | A declaration of incompatibility in UK constitutional law is a declaration issued by a United Kingdom judge that a statute is incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 section 4. |
| How did the daily mail question the Court’s judicial neutrality? | The daily mail called the courts the “enemy of the people” after their 2016 ruling on Brexit |