Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Badge of the Supreme Court, featuring the four floral emblems of the United Kingdom - a Tudor Rose, Flax, Thistle and Leek, granted by the College of Arms in November 2008.[1]
Established in October 2009
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Location Middlesex Guildhall, London
Authorized by HM Government via the Constitutional Reform Act 2005
President of the Supreme Court
Currently Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
Since October 2009

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was established in law by Part III of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. It will start work on 1 October 2009.[2] It will take over the judicial functions of the House of Lords, which are currently exercised by the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords), the 12 professional judges appointed as members of the House of Lords to carry out its judicial business. It will also assume some functions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The court will be the supreme court (court of last resort, highest appellate court) in all matters under English law, Welsh law (to the extent that the National Assembly for Wales makes laws for Wales that differ from those in England) and Northern Irish law. It will not have authority over criminal cases in Scotland, where the High Court of Justiciary will remain the supreme criminal court. However, it will hear appeals from the civil Court of Session, just as the House of Lords does today. The Supreme Court will also determine devolution issues; that is, cases in which the legal powers of the three devolved governments – the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government – or laws made by the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament or National Assembly for Wales are questioned. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council currently has jurisdiction over these cases.

Contents

[edit] Existing Supreme Courts in the UK

The new Supreme Court should not be confused with the Supreme Court of England and Wales, which was created in the 1870s under the Judicature Acts, nor with the Supreme Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland, each of which consists of a Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice and Crown Court. When the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 come into force, creating the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the present Supreme Courts will become known as the Senior Courts of England and Wales and the Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland respectively, to avoid confusion.

The High Court of Justiciary, the Court of Session, and the Office of the Accountant of Court comprise the College of Justice (Supreme Courts of Scotland).[3]

[edit] Jurisdiction

Middlesex Guildhall, London, the location of the Supreme Court

The main role of the UK Supreme Court will be to hear appeals from courts in the United Kingdom's three legal systems: England & Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The Court's focus will be on cases which raise points of law of general public importance. Like the current Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, appeals from many fields of law are likely to be selected for hearing - including commercial disputes, family matters, judicial review claims against public authorities and issues under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Court will also hear some criminal appeals, but not from Scotland as there will be no right of appeal from the High Court of Justiciary (Scotland's highest criminal court).

The UK Supreme Court will also determine "devolution issues" (as defined by the Scotland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006). These are legal proceedings about the powers of the three devolved administrations – the Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, and the Welsh Assembly Government and the National Assembly for Wales. Devolution issues are currently heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and most are about compliance with rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, brought into national law by the Devolution Acts and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords will cease to exist on 30 September 2009. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will, however, continue, located within the new Supreme Court building, as it is the final court of appeal for several States in the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories.

[edit] Reasons for and against creation

The main argument in favour of establishing the court was that the House of Lords' role as a legislature and judiciary should be separated. It was claimed this confused people and was contrary to the principles of separation of powers (the idea that in a democracy, the executive, legislative and judicial powers should be held by separate actors). The main argument against the court was that the previous system had worked well and kept costs down.

The reform was motivated by concerns that the historical admixture of legislative, judicial, and executive power might not be in conformance with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights, because a judicial officer, having legislative or executive power, is likely not to be considered sufficiently impartial to provide a fair trial.

The Government's plans to create the Supreme Court, announced in June 2003, were controversial and were brought forward with little consultation but were subsequently extensively debated in Parliament.[4] During 2004, a select committee of the House of Lords scrutinised the arguments for and against setting up a new court.[5] The Government estimated the set-up cost of the Supreme Court at £56.9 million.[6]

[edit] Building

The new Supreme Court will be housed away from Parliament. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 gave time for a suitable building to be found and fitted out before the Law Lords moved out of the Palace of Westminster. After a lengthy survey of suitable sites, including Somerset House, the Government announced that the new court would be located in the Middlesex Guildhall, in Parliament Square, Westminster. That decision was the subject of an inquiry by a committee of Parliament[7] and the grant of planning permission by Westminster City Council for refurbishment works was challenged in judicial review proceedings by the conservation group SAVE Britain's Heritage.[8] It was also reported that English Heritage had been put under enormous pressure to approve the scheme.[9] Feilden + Mawson LLP, supported by Foster & Partners, were appointed architects for the project.[10]

[edit] The appointments process

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 makes provision for a new appointments process for Justices of the Supreme Court. A selection commission will be formed when vacancies arise. This will be composed of the President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court and a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission of England and Wales, the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission. In October 2007, the Ministry of Justice announced that this appointments process would be adopted on a voluntary basis for appointments of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.[11] New judges appointed to the Supreme Court after its creation will not necessarily receive peerages. The first Chief Executive will be Jenny Rowe.[12].

[edit] The first Justices

The eleven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords) who hold office on 1 October 2009 will be the first justices of the 12-member Supreme Court.[13] One of the Law Lords (Lord Scott of Foscote) retires on 30 September 2009 and the 12th place on the Supreme Court will be filled by Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony (currently the Master of the Rolls), who will be the first Justice to be appointed directly to the Supreme Court.[14]

The Senior Law Lord on 1 October 2009, The Rt. Hon. The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, will become the Supreme Court's first president.[15]

The first Justices, in order of seniority, will be:

In addition to the permanent Justices, the President may request other senior judges, drawn from two groups, to sit as "acting judges" of the Supreme Court.[16]

  • The first group is those judges who hold 'office as a senior territorial judge': judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, judges of the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland, and judges of the First or Second Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland.
  • The second group is known as the 'supplementary panel'. The President may approve in writing retired senior judges' membership of this panel if they are under 75 years of age.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The College of Arms Newsletter". College of Arms. December 2008. http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Newsletter/019.htm#News. Retrieved on 2009-02-25. 
  2. ^ The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (Commencement No. 11) Order 2009|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20091604_en_1}
  3. ^ "Scottish Court Service: An Introduction" (PDF). Scottish Court Service. http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/you_and_us/recruitment/SCS%20An%20Introduction.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-05-23. "The Supreme Courts are made up of the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary and the Accountant of Court's Office" 
  4. ^ See A Le Sueur, 'From Appellate Committee to Supreme Court: A Narrative', chap 5 in L. Blom-Cooper, G. Drewry and B. Dickson (eds),The Judicial House of Lords (Oxford University Press, 2009); Queen Mary School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 17/2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1374357
  5. ^ "Lords Select Committee on the Constitutional Reform Bill First Report". http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldselect/ldcref/125/12505.htm. 
  6. ^ "Written Answer of the Ministry of Justice to question posed by Lord Steinberg (Col. WA102". Lords Hansard. 2008-03-26. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80326w0003.htm#column_WA102. 
  7. ^ "Minutes of Oral Evidence Taken before the Constitutional Affairs Committee 17 April 2007". http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmconst/465/7041701.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-23. 
  8. ^ "The Queen on the application of Save Britain's Heritage v. Westminster City Council". High Court (Administrative Court). http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/807.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-23. 
  9. ^ "Lord Falconer's supreme blunder". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article677664.ece. Retrieved on 2008-10-26. 
  10. ^ "Questions to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, 15 January 2007 (Col. 877W)". Commons Hansard. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070115/text/70115w0026.htm. 
  11. ^ http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/announcement_081007c.htm
  12. ^ http://www.justice.gov.uk/whatwedo/supreme-court-chief-exec.htm
  13. ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 24
  14. ^ http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19036
  15. ^ "Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers appointed as senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary". http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page15158.asp. 
  16. ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 38
  • Andrew Le Sueur (ed), Building the UK's New Supreme Court: National and Comparative Perspectives (Oxford University Press 2004) ISBN 0-19-926462-7[1]
  • Derek Morgan (ed), Constitutional Innovation: the creation of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom (A special issue of the Legal Studies[2], the Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Justices
Chief Executive
Premises
v • d • e
United Kingdom law
Common fields
Parallel fields
Related systems
United Kingdom law category

Coordinates: 51°30′01.3″N 0°07′41.3″W / 51.500361°N 0.128139°W / 51.500361; -0.128139

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kingdom"
Personal tools