This post is an overview of the professional judiciary of England and Wales. A further post will look at Justices of the Peace who are regarded as part of the overall judiciary but they are not part of the professional - legally-qualified - judiciary.
Overview of the judiciary -
Supreme Court of the UK - At the pinnacle of the legal world are the twelve Justices of the Supreme Court. This court came into being on 1st October 2009 and was created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 - (CRA 2005) and replaced the House of Lords as the final appellate court.
One of
the justices is appointed as President of the Supreme Court and one as Deputy President. The biographies of the Justices are available on the Court's website.
Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by His Majesty who will, in practice, accept the name emerging from an appointment process set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 - See Part 2 of the Act regarding the Lord Chancellor, Part 3 for the Supreme Court, Part 4 for appointments.
Court of Appeal
Immediately beneath the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal and its judiciary are the Lords (or Ladies) Justice of Appeal. They are referred to as LJ (or, in the plural, LJJ).
The Court of Appeal sits in two divisions: Criminal and Civil.
Leading the Criminal Division is the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales who is President of the Courts of England and Wales as well as Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales and also Head of Criminal Justice.
Leading the Civil Division is the Master of the Rolls who is Head of Civil Justice.
The High Court
Next in the judicial hierarchy are the Justices of the High Court. Upon appointment, a justice is assigned to one of the High Court's divisions - Queen's Bench, Chancery, Family.
Judges of the High Court sit not only at the Royal Courts of Justice in London but also at the larger court centres located in some of the principal cities of England and Wales. They will adjudicate on important civil cases and, those appointed to the Queen's Bench Division, will try (along with a jury) the most serious and difficult criminal cases heard in the Crown Court.
Circuit Judges
Next come the Circuit Judges . They take civil cases in the County
Courts and they also try those criminal cases in the Crown Court which
are not allocated to High Court Judges.
At this point, a further judicial title - that of Recorder - should be noted. Appointment as a Recorder is usually a part-time judicial appointment sometimes seen as a first step on a judicial career. Recorders also take criminal cases in the Crown Court. There are certain Honorary Recorder appointments - e.g. the Recorder of Manchester.
District Judges
Within the County Court will be found District Judges who undertake a
considerable amount of the court's work. In the Magistrates' Courts
there are District Judges (Magistrates Courts) who are empowered to sit
alone and have the full powers of the Magistrates' Court.
The Tribunal structure also has its judiciary. There is the Senior President of Tribunals who is also a Lord Justice of Appeal. Then there are Tribunal Presidents, Tribunal Judges and Tribunal Members (the latter are not necessarily legally-qualified).
Judicial independence - When a judge is appointed, he or she will be required to make the judicial oath:
“I, _________ , do swear by Almighty God that I will well and truly
serve our Sovereign King Charles the Third in the office of ________ ,
and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of
this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”
(Note: there are alternative oaths for other religions or the appointee may affirm).
The oath makes it clear that the judicial appointments are made by the
Crown and the office-holder's role is to act impartially. Cases arise involving persons from all walks of life. To all he must do
justice according to "the law" which is to be found in the decisions of
generations of judges and in the Acts of Parliament. The judge has to be swayed
only by what is relevant and must never exercise "favour, affection or
ill-will" no matter whose case is before him in the court.
Judges have to be independent of the executive (i.e. the government and
its Ministers). The judiciary do not "take orders" from Ministers and,
in exchange, Ministers are expected to be careful about any statements
they make about judges individually or about their decisions.
Anything the judges do which is disliked can be altered by Parliament.
Tensions have arisen between Ministers and the judiciary in recent times over decisions, especially of the House of Lords and the Supreme Court, which Ministers have disliked and have been openly critical of.
This is capable of undermining the rule of law. It is one thing to state that the government will seek to alter the law via Parliament.
Judicial Independence is a very hard won aspect of the UK's constitutional arrangements and one which does
not exist in many countries of the world. It must be protected and
each generation has a particular responsibility in this regard. The
independence of the judiciary is protected by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 s.3.
Appointment etc. - Judges are appointed by the Crown. There is now an independent Judicial Appointments Commission which advertises vacancies and deals with applicants via its "selection
exercises."
Once appointed, the most senior judges (i.e. High Court and upwards) may not be removed from office other than by an Address to His Majesty of both House of Parliament. This arrangement has been in place since the Act of Settlement of 1701 and offers considerable protection to the judges from political interference. No judge in England and Wales has ever been removed using this procedure.
There is an Judicial Conduct Investigations Office and a Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman. Complaints may not extend to the actual judicial decisions reached by particular judges.
Original 2011 post HERE
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