Tag: lord chancellor
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Sammy Talalay: The Lord Chancellor, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law
At the beginning of the year, this blog covered the report from the House of Lords Constitution Committee into the Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers, with Conor Casey’s post focusing in particular on the latter. This post aims to ensure that 2023 is bookended by consideration of the issues addressed in the committee’s report – and…
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David Stott: Ministerial Influence in Judicial Appointments – Taking Back Control?
Not since the Blair era has a government been so committed to a significant programme of constitutional reform as the Johnson government, but with very different objectives. The Blair government sought to modernise the constitution and, through the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, to formalise a separation of powers in respect of the judges by (i)…
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Joseph Crampin: Precedent for Delaying Royal Assent: A Response to Professor Finnis
The ‘Cooper-Letwin Act’ (European Union Withdrawal (No 5) Act 2019) may yet come to be known as the constitutional crisis that wasn’t. But, the advocacy by some of the Government’s ability to advise the crown to refuse assent in order to legitimately prevent the Bill from becoming law has provoked significant debate. The object of…
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John Finnis: Royal Assent – A Reply to Mark Elliott
I agree with Mark Elliott in finding my April 1 argument about prorogation and assent astonishing and monstrous, once the argument’s important premises have been omitted, as he has omitted them. And it is left even more objectionable when he has attributed to it a premise, two assumptions, and a goal each far from my…
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Graham Gee: Do Lord Chancellors defend judicial independence?
As part of its inquiry into the office of Lord Chancellor, the Constitution Committee asks whether “new” (i.e. post-2003) Lord Chancellors have actually defended judicial independence in line with their customary and now statutory duty to do so. I was asked for examples earlier this summer when appearing before the Committee (with Andrew Le Sueur…
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Mark Elliott: Judicial Review Reform — The Report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Earlier this week, the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its report on The implications for access to justice of the Government’s proposals to reform judicial review (HL 174 HC 868 2013-14). The report is, perhaps unsurprisingly, generally critical of the proposals and of the way in which they have been or are…
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Patrick O’Brien: Does the Lord Chancellor really exist?
On 12 June 2003 a minor constitutional revolution began with the resignation of Lord Irvine as Lord Chancellor and the announcement of a package of reforms including the abolition of his office and the creation of a Supreme Court, later to become the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). To commemorate the tenth anniversary of these…
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Graham Gee: The Crime and Courts Bill and the JAC
The Crime and Courts Bill resumes its passage through the House of Lords this week. In a post in July, Patrick O’Brien offered some thoughts on proposals in the Bill on judicial appointments. I agree with Patrick’s analysis and merely want to add some thoughts on the limited changes relating to the Judicial Appointments Commission…
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Patrick O’Brien: Three Thoughts about the Crime and Courts Bill and Judicial Appointments
The Crime and Courts Bill 2012 is currently going through the Lords. This post draws on a longer Briefing Paper – available here – that I’ve written as part of the Judicial Independence Project. The measures on judicial appointments in the Bill take effect primarily as amendments to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). 1. The measures…
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News: Ministry of Justice consultation on judicial appointments and diversity
The Ministry of Justice has this morning published a consultation paper “Appointments and Diversity: A Judiciary for the 21st Century” (CP19/2011). It seeks views on transferring the Lord Chancellor’s decision-making powers to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales for appointments either below the High Court or the Court of Appeal requiring the Judicial…