‘The Constitutional Reform Act redrew relationships between the senior judiciary and Parliament in a number of ways. Amongst the most significant was removing the right of the LCJ to speak in the Lords. Earlier this month, the new LCJ Lord Thomas repeated the lament of his immediate predecessors that it was a mistake to deprive the LCJ of the right to address Parliament on the floor of the House on important matters relating to the administration of justice. In this context, some have read the LCJ’s suggestion of a new approach to s5 of the CRA as significant. Drawing on interviews conducted between 2011-13 as part of an AHRC-funded project on The Politics of Judicial Independence, I want to shed some light on tensions that have arisen about the use of s5.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 14th April 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
The Judiciary: The Third Branch of the State (PDF)
Speech by Lord Justice Gross, Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales
RCDS Lecture, 3rd April 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
The City of London Solicitors’ Company (PDF)
Speech by The Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Chief Justice
Judiciary of England and Wales, 31st March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘Dominic Grieve QC, the attorney general, has resisted calls for young and vulnerable witnesses to be cross-examined by a judge rather than several barristers to avoid aggressive courtroom questioning .’
The Guardian, 7th April 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The dramatic increase in public law and human rights cases coming before the UK Supreme Court (and the Appellate Committee before it) means that the UK’s top court is more frequently determining essentially socio-political questions. In addition, in recent years, the judiciary has pressed for a rather more expansive definition of judicial independence, with a greater emphasis on the institutional independence of the judiciary. This has tended to lead to more powerful leadership roles, for senior judges in particular.
UK Constitutional Law Association, 27th March 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘This week, a challenge to the legal aid reforms by the Howard League for Penal Reform is rejected, while campaigners seeking an inquiry into the action of British soldiers in Malaya in 1948 face similar disappointment. Meanwhile, some of the most senior judges in the UK give their views on the role of the judiciary today.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 23rd March 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
An English Judge in Europe (PDF)
Speech by The Rt Hon. Lady Justice Arden
Judiciary of England and Wales, 11th March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘If you asked a second year LLB student, or even a professor of public law or a legal practitioner, ‘what are the most fundamental functions of judges and the system of justice?’ you would probably get ‘doing justice to all without fear or favour’ and ‘upholding the rule of law’ among the most common answers. And if you asked ‘what are the most important ways in which performance of these functions is secured?’ you would expect to get ‘independence of the judiciary’ among the answers.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 19th March 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘In his Cambridge Freshfield Lecture, Lord Neuberger gave a number of reasons, historical, geographical and emotional, for the view expressed in the Daily Mail and other newspapers that, “it is unacceptable for unelected judges to impose a diktat on a democratically elected parliament”. He said that this was a “peculiarly British” view, aimed particularly at the rulings on EU law by judges in Luxembourg and on human rights by judges in Strasbourg. But I am not going to write about that. No, what troubles me about Lord Neuberger’s citation from the Daily Mail is the complaint about rulings (diktats) being made by “unelected judges”.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 18th March 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System. Speech by Lord Justice Gross, Senior Presiding Judge.’
Judiciary of England and Wales, 19th March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘Hitting the Balls out of Court: Are Judges Stepping Over the Line?
Speech by Lord Justice Moses: Creaney Memorial Lecture 2014, 26/02/2014’
Judiciary Of England & Wales, 18th March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘Guidance issued jointly by the Justices’ Clerks Society and the Magistrates’ Association with the approval of Mrs Justice Pauffley and the President of the Family Division.’
Judiciary of England & Wales, 18th March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘Mr Bentham was no great admirer of the judiciary. He once said “the same fungus, which when green, is made into Bar, is it not, when dry, made into Bench?” He distrusted the judges. When drafting a “New Plan for the organisation of the Judicial Establishment in France” in the 1820s, he was adamant that judges should not be permitted to legislate: “Appointed for the express purpose of enforcing obedience to the laws, their duty is to be foremost in obedience. Any attempt on the part of the judge to frustrate or unnecessarily to retard the efficacy of what he understands to have been the decided meaning of the legislature, shall be punished with forfeiture of his office.” ‘
Judiciary of England and Wales, 12th March 2014
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, delivered a speech last week in which he radically called for a judge-led inquisitorial system to be considered for family and civil courts. He commented that, within the family law arena, the current adversarial method of dealing with cases was ill-suited to both the types of cases seen there and the significant numbers of litigants in person who now make up large numbers of the users of that system.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 12th March 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘The senior judiciary has dismantled the government’s proposals to raise court fees, questioning the underlying policy, highlighting the “clearly inadequate” evidence and warning that introducing enhanced fees in commercial cases is “unworkable”.’
Litigation Futures, 5th March 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Senior judges have savaged government proposals for reforming court fees, warning that they are based on ‘inadequate’ and compromised research, and basic misconceptions about the way the courts operate.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 4th March 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Judges making wasted costs orders (WCOs) are to be placed under a duty to report the lawyers involved to their regulator in a bid to make them “consider more carefully the decisions they make in handling a case”, the government has decided.’
Litigation Futures, 6th February 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
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