The Introduction of the New British Supreme Court

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Table of Contents

Thesis
Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Thesis

The introduction of the new British Supreme Court has involved different constitutional implications, such as changing the role of the Lord Chancellor and creating a position of President of the Court of England and Wales; the new Supreme Court is predicted to be more powerful than the House of Lords committee due to its ability to assert itself in opposition to the government.

Introduction

One of the primary purposes of any government is to ensure that the country has a just court and sound constitution which clearly defines the rights of the citizens. Achieving this purpose is extremely difficult for the United Kingdom which has to establish justice in a number of countries which is consists of. Recently, on October 1, 2009 the country has opened new Supreme Court which “replaced the Law Lords as the nation’s highest court of appeal for all criminal and civil cases, except criminal trials in Scotland” (Great Britain: Supreme Court Sworn In 2009, para.1). The new British Court was created with respect to the Constitutional Reform Act (2005) with its main role at present consisting in hearing appeals from the legal systems of Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland; at this, the court of first instance with regards to criminal cases is still located in Scotland (Scottish Courts 2009). The introduction of the new British Supreme Court has involved different constitutional implications, such as changing the role of the Lord Chancellor and creating a position of President of the Court of England and Wales; the new Supreme Court is predicted to be more powerful than the House of Lords committee due to its ability to assert itself in opposition to the government.

Discussion

Firstly, the introduction of the new The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has entailed a number of constitutional implications. The creation of the new court separates the senior judges from the Parliamentary process. This draws additional attention to the issue of the infringement of the judicial independence, because “the independence of the Court may increase the extent to which it is perceived as a political player and used for political purposes” (Woodhouse 2006, 134). Since for the centuries the United Kingdom has been a country with no written constitution, several rules had to be developed in order to protect judicial independence. These rules are as follows:

Judges are independent of the executive and the legislature – and vice versa – and do not get involved in political debate;
Apart from modern rules relating to age and health, judges of the High Court and above cannot be removed from office without an address passed by both houses of parliament; and
Judges are almost entirely immune from the risk of being sued or prosecuted for what they do in their capacity as a judge. (Judicial independence 2009, para. 3)

Over the years the country managed to survive on these rules. However, with the adoption of the Constitutional Reform Act (2005) judicial independence started to be defined by law. This drastically changed the role of the Lord Chancellor who once had to be the head of the judiciary court, but has lost some of the powers, the judicial ones in particular, in accordance with the principle of the powers separation. The Lord Chancellor “has become a more traditional cabinet minister, responsible … for legal aid, the Law Commission and the court system” (Elliott and Quinn 2007, p. 142). This changed significantly the educational background which a person has to possess to be appointed on this position. Prior to the adoption of the act in question, the Lord Chancellor had to be a lawyer, but now such a person is qualified by experience. Such experience “could have been gained as a Government Minister, a member of either Houses of Parliament, a qualified lawyer, a teacher of law in a university or ‘other experience the Prime Minister considers relevant’” (Elliott and Quinn 2007, p. 142). Thus, the impact of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom consisted in separating senior judges from the Parliamentary process and in depriving Lord Chancellor of his judiciary powers.

These changes have further entailed other constitutional implications. Since Lord Chancellor has been deprived of his powers, they had to be transferred to somebody else. This is why a new position within the Parliament has been created. This was the position of President of the Court of England and Wales who became the head of the judiciary and overtook the functions of the Lord Chancellor (Elliott and Quinn 2007). President of the Court of England and Wales was the new title given to the Lord Chief Justice; according to the Constitutional Reform Act, this person “is now responsible for the training, guidance and deployment of judges and represents the views of the judiciary of England and Wales to Parliament and ministers” (The Constitutional Reform Act 2009, para. 3). President of the Court of England and Wales also started to be responsible for the work of twelve judges who constitute the Appellate Committee which earlier belonged to the House of Lords, but was transferred to the new Supreme Court and started to be referred to as Justices of the Supreme Court. According to the rules of the new court,

Judges of the Supreme Court will be prohibited from sitting or voting in the House of Lords and from membership of the House of Commons … Prior to submitting a nomination for royal approval, an elaborate consultative and selection process will be undertaken by an ad hoc Selection Commission of five members. The Commission will include the Lord Chief Justice and other senior judicial figures. (Carroll 2007, p. 43)

Therefore, the constitutional implications which the new Supreme Court has entailed are the change of the obligations of the Lord Cancellor, the establishment of the new position of President of the Court of England and Wales, and the transference of the Appellate Committee to the new Supreme Court.

Assessing the power of the new Supreme Court, it may be stated that its powers could indeed be greater than those of the House of Lords committee. So far, however, this can be a mere prediction for the court was established relatively recently. As stated by Lord Neuberger who used to be a Lord of Appeal before the Supreme Court was created, the new court had enough powers to become an opposition to the government with “judges arrogating to themselves greater power that they have at the moment” (Judge warns 2009, para. 2). Besides, it is considered that the new court will improve the judiciary in the country, as well as the executive processes carried out.

Conclusion

In sum, the introduction of the British Supreme Court has entailed several constitutional changes within the government. Thus, Lord Chancellor lost some of his powers and started dealing with legal issues only. A part of his powers has been transferred to President of the Court of England and Wales, a new position created by the Constitutional Reform Act (2005). The issue of the new court’s powers is still debatable, though it is believed to be more powerful than the House of Lords committee due to its ability to become an opposition to the Government.

References

‘Great Britain: Supreme Court Sworn In, Hears First Case’ 2009, World News Digest, Web.

‘Judge warns of “assertive” potential of Supreme Court’ 2009, The Journal Online, Web.

‘Judicial independence’ 2009, Judiciary of England and Wales, Web.

‘The Constitutional Reform Act 2005’ 2009, Judiciary of England and Wales, Web.

Carroll, A 2007, Constitutional and administrative law, Pearson Education, London.

Elliott, C and Quinn, F 2007, English legal system, Pearson Education, London.

Scottish Courts 2009, Court of Session, Scottish Courts, Web.

Woodhouse, D 2006, ‘The constitutional and political implications of a United Kingdom Supreme Court,’ Legal Studies, vol. 24, num. 1-2, pp. 134-155.

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The Introduction of the New British Supreme Court

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