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Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

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This article is part of the series: Courts of England and Wales
Law of England and Wales
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The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales was, historically, the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor. However as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which removed the judicial functions from the office of Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice is now the head of the judiciary of England and Wales. He is also the presiding judge of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal. Until the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 came into force in 2006, the Lord Chief Justice was also the head of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court. There is now a separate post of President of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court, currently held by Sir Igor Judge.

Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lord Chief Justice is now to be chosen by a specially appointed committee, convened by the Judicial Appointments Commission.

Originally, each of the three high common law courts - the King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of the Exchequer - had its own Chief Justice. That of the Exchequer Court was styled as the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and that of the Common Pleas was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, leaving the head of the King's (or Queen's) Bench to be known simply as the Lord Chief Justice. Although the Court of the King's (or Queen's) Bench had existed since 1234, the title of chief justice was not used until 1268. The courts, however, were combined in 1875, creating a single Lord Chief Justice of England.

There is also a Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The Lord Chief Justice's equivalent in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the post of Lord Justice-General in the High Court of Justiciary.

Presently the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who succeeded Lord Woolf on October 1, 2005. He was the first Lord Chief Justice to act as head of the judiciary after the Lord Chancellor relinquished that role.

Chief Justices, King's (Queen's) Bench, to 1875

Lords Chief Justices of England (later England and Wales), 1875-present

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