Judges: a Summary

The Role of the Judges

• Judges play a central role under the British Constitution playing a vital but sensitive role in controlling the exercise of power by the state

Judicial Hierarchy

• At the head of the judiciary is the President of the Courts of England and Wales. The most senior judges are the 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. They currently sit in the House of Lords and the Privy Council. At the next level down sitting in the Court of Appeal are 37 judges known as Lord Justices of the Appeal and Lady Justices of Appeal

A reduced role for the Lord Chancellor

• With the passing of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, four major changes to the role Lord Chancellor have been introduced. As a result, he or she will no longer:
• Sit as a judge
• Head the judiciary
• Take a central role in the judicial appointments process
• Automatically become the speaker of the house

Appointing the Judges

• The way in which judges are appointed has been radically reformed by provisions in the CRA 2005. The Act contains provisions for the establishment of a new Judicial Appointments Commission. It is hoped that the creation of this body will help to put an end to the breaches of the principle of the separation of powers and reinforce judicial independence. Depending on their rank, judges are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister or by the Lord Chancellor, taking into account the opinion of other judges

Training

• Training is provided by the JSB

Termination of appointment

• There are five ways in which a judge may leave office:
• Dismissal
• Discipline
• Resignation
• Retirement
• Removal due to infirmity

Independence of the judiciary

• In our legal system great importance is attached to the idea that judges should be independent and seen to be independent. s3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 states:

"The Lord Chancellor, other Ministers of the Crown and all with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary or otherwise to the administration of justice must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary"

Criticisms of the judiciary

• Judges are overwhelmingly white, male, middle to upper class and frequently elderly. This leads to accusations that they are unrepresentative of the society they serve. The appointments process has been criticised for being dominated by politicians, secretive and discriminatory. Judges receive very little training. There are real concerns that the independence of the judiciary is not sufficiently protected. The academic, Griffith, has accused judges of being biased towards the interests traditionally represented by the right wing of the political spectrum. The lawyer Helena Kennedy has argued that many judges have an outdated attitude towards women and are sometimes prejudiced against them. There is also some concern that some judges are Freemasons and that this impairs their impartiality, both in the selection of judges and also possibly in their work as judges