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THE BRITISH JUDICIARY

THE BRITISH JUDICIARY. Unit 4. Preview. Hierarchy of courts Hierarchy of judges Qualifications, selection and appointment of judges Judicial titles Judicial qualities Tenure of judges Legal terms. The Court System. Civil cases. 1. The County Court 2. The High Court of Justice

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THE BRITISH JUDICIARY

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  1. THE BRITISH JUDICIARY Unit 4

  2. Preview • Hierarchy of courts • Hierarchy of judges • Qualifications, selection and appointment of judges • Judicialtitles • Judicialqualities • Tenureofjudges • Legalterms

  3. The Court System

  4. Civil cases • 1. The County Court • 2. The High Court of Justice • 3. The Court of Appeal (Civil Division) • 4. The Supreme Court

  5. County Courts • First instance civil cases: contract disputes, compensation claims, consumer complaints about faulty goods or services, bankruptcy cases

  6. The High Court of Justice

  7. Queen’s Bench Division • The division of the High Court of Justice whose principal business is the trial of civil actions based upon contract or tort

  8. Queen’s Bench Division

  9. Admiralty Court • Civil actions relating to ships and the sea • Cases about collisions, damage to cargo, salvage

  10. Commercial Court • Commercial cases • Puisne judges with experience of commercial matters

  11. Chancery Division • The division of the High Court of Justice created by the Judicature Acts 1873-75 to replace the Court of Chancery • Real property, trusts, administration of estates

  12. Family Division • The division of the High Court concerned with family proceedings and non-contentious probate matters

  13. The High Court of Justice • Original jurisdiction (complex civil cases), • Appellate jurisdiction

  14. Appeals: civil cases • From the High Court cases may go on appeal to the civil division of the Court of Appeal, which can reverse or uphold a decision of the lower courts; its decisions bind all the lower civil courts • Civil cases may leapfrog from the High Court to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Court of Appeal, when points of law of general public importance are involved • Appellants must apply for leave to appeal

  15. Criminal courts • Magistrates’ Courts (95% criminal cases): petty crimes; minors; • 3 lay magistrates or 1 district judge (formerly:stipendiary magistrate); no jury • The Crown Court: indictable offences; jury trial

  16. Appeals: criminal cases • Magistrates’ courts: appeals to the Crown Court • Crown Court: appeals to the Court of Appeal • Appeals may sometimes go from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court (formerly: House of Lords)

  17. The Supreme Court (formerly: House of Lords) • 12 judges appointed from judges andbarristers • The quorum, or minimum number, ofjudges for an appeal hearing is normally three, but generally there is a sitting of five judges • typically sit as a committee to develop and define the law of the land

  18. Judicial appointments in England and Wales

  19. Magistrate • A ‘justiceofthepeace’ sittinginaMagistrates’ Court • Most magistrates: laypersons; no formal legal qualifications, no payment for theirservices, givetheir time voluntarily. • Also: districtjudges (Magistrates’ Court) (formerlycalledstipendiarymagistrates) in London andother major cities.

  20. Magistrates’ key qualities • Good character • Understanding and communication • Social awareness • Maturity and sound temperament • Sound judgement • Commitment and reliability

  21. Appointment of magistrates • About 1,500 new lay magistrtes appointed by Lord Chancellor each year on recommendations by the local advisory committees • The committees: max. 12 members, magistrates and non-magistrates

  22. Magistrates’ duties • Try 97% of all criminal cases; deal with preliminary hearings in the remaining 3% of criminal cases • bail applications and committal proceedings

  23. Magistrates’ duties • Civil matters: enforcing of debts owed to the utilities (gas, electric and water), non-payment of the council tax and TV licences • Criminal charges against young offenders • Family cases: orders for protection against violence, adoption orders

  24. District Judge (Magistrates’ Court) • A barrister or solicitorofnotlessthan 7 years’ standing, appointedbythe Queen, , on therecommendationofthe Lord Chancellor, following a acompetitionadministeredbytheJudicialAppointmentCommission. • formerly (before 2000) called a stipendiary magistrate

  25. District Judge (Magistrates’ Court) • Metropolitan district judges sit in magistrates’ courts for Inner London; other magistrates sit in large provincial centres

  26. District Judge(County courts) • Inthecountycourts, a judicialofficerappointedbythe Queen, on therecommendationofthe Lord Chancellor, following a competitionadministeredbytheJudicialAppointmentCommission, fromsolicitors or barristersofnotlessthan 7 years’ standing. • Cantrycaseswithin a financial limit definedby statute. • Part-time districtjudges- known as deputydistrictjudges

  27. Recorder • A barrister or solicitorappointed as a part-time judgebythe Queen on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, after a competition administered by the Judicial Appointments Commission • Agree to makethemselvesavailableregularly (for at least 4 weeks a year) • Usually sit intheCrown Court but may sit inthecountycourts or theHigh Court

  28. Circuit Judge • Anyofthejudgesappointedbythe Queen, on therecommendationofthe Lord Chancellor, following a competitionadministeredbytheJudicialAppointmentsCommission, fromamongthose who have had a 10 yearCrown Court or county court advocacyqualification. • Theymay, byinvitationofthe Lord Chancellor, sit as High Court judges

  29. Circuit system • The system of dividing England and Wales into regional circuits for the purpose of court administration. • Consists of the South-Eastern, Western, Midland and Oxford, Wales and Chester, Northern and North-Eastern circuits

  30. Lord Justice of Appeal • A judgeofthe Court ofAppeal. • The Lord (andLady) Justices are appointment by the Queen on the recommendation of a selection panel convened by the Judicial Appointments Commission fromthose holding the post of a High Court judge or thosewith a 10-yearHigh Court qualification

  31. Supreme Court Judges(LordsofAppealinOrdinary/ LawLords) • Up to 12 persons, holders of high judicial office or practising barristers of at least 15 years’ standing; • Under the Constitutional Reform Act these functions transferred to a new Supreme Court: the Law Lords- removed from the legislature

  32. Lord Chancellor • Traditionally, the head of the judiciary, a government minister (in charge of the Lord Chancellor’s Department, now the Department for Constitutional Affairs), and Speaker of the House of Lords (the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 devolved this function onto the Lord Speaker) • Judicial, executive, legislative functions

  33. Lord Chancellor • Appointsmagistratesandhigherjudicialofficials; since 2005: JudicialAppointmentsCommission • Appointedbythe Prime Minister • UndertheConstitutionalReformAct 2005 his judicialfunctionstransferred to the Lord ChiefJustice

  34. TheConstitutionalReformAct 2005 • A duty on governmentministers to upholdtheindependenceofthejudiciary, barringthemfromtryingto influence judicialdecisionsthroughanyspecial access to judges • Reformofthe post of Lord Chancellor, transferring his judicialfunctions to thePresidentoftheCourtsofEnglandandWales – a new title given to the Lord ChiefJustice. The Lord ChiefJustice is nowresponsible for thetraining, guidanceanddeploymentofjudgesandrepresentstheviewsofthejudiciaryofEnglandandWales to Parliamentandministers

  35. TheConstitutionalReformAct 2005 • AnindependentSupreme Court established, separate fromtheHouseofLordsandwithits own independentappointmentssystem, staff, budgetand building • AnindependentJudicialAppointmentsCommission, responsible for selectingcandidates to recommend for judicialappointment to theSecretaryof State for Justice. TheJudicialAppointmentsCommissionensuresthatmeritremainsthe sole criterion for appointmentandtheappointmentssystem is modern, openand transparent

  36. TheConstitutionalReformAct 2005 • A JudicialAppointmentsandConductOmbudsman, responsible for investigatingandmakingrecommendationsconcerningcomplaintsaboutthejudicialappointmentsprocess, andthehandlingofjudicialconductcomplaintswithinthescopeoftheConstitutionalReformAct.

  37. Mandatory requirements for judicial offices • An Act of Parliament lays down the mandatory requirements for most judicial offices • Candidates must have practised as a lawyer or judge for a specified time • The hierarchical structure of the courts informs the process of selection to the judiciary

  38. Judicial appointments • Experiencegained as a judgeinalower court – one ofthequalifications for appointment to a higher court • Senior appointments to the Court ofAppealandtheHighCourt – madebythe Queen followingtherecommendationofthe Lord Chancellor, on theadviceofthe Lord Chancellor, following a competitionadministeredbytheJudicialAppointmentsCommission

  39. Qualifications, selection and appointment of judges

  40. Qualifications, selection and appointment of judges

  41. Titles

  42. Training of judges • The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) – responsible for the training of judges, lay magistrates, and members of Tribunals in England and Wales • JSB organises: an induction course; visits to penal establishments (prison); meetings with personnel from the Probation Service

  43. Training of judges • A period of sitting in on the Bench – the judge’s area of the Court – with a Circuit Judge • In his first week of appointment - supervised by a Circuit Judge • Practical guidelines for judges – set out in Bench Books

  44. Benchbook: JudicialCollegeProspectus 2014-15 • For High Court judges: • Administrative law seminar • on 2 June 2014 • • • Civil law seminars starting • on 19 May 2014 and21 May 2014 • • • Seminar for judges sitting • in the Queen’s Bench • Division on 29 September • 2014 • • • High Court seminar in • family law starting on • 12 January 2015 • • • Serious crime seminar • starting on 22 Septembe 2014

  45. Judicial qualities • Intellectual capacity • Personal qualities including integrity, independence of mind, sound judgement, decisiveness, objectivity and willingness to learn • Ability to understand and deal fairly • Authority and communication skills • Efficiency

  46. Security of tenure of superior judges • Superior judges – security of tenure; cannot be dismissed by the Lord Chancellor or the Government • Hold office while of good behaviour • Can only be removed by the Monarch following a petition presented by both Houses of Parliament

  47. Tenure of inferior judges • Lord Chancellor has the power to dismiss inferior judges for incapacity or misbehaviour

  48. Tenure of judges

  49. Tenure of judges

  50. Retirement • Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993: all judges have to retire at the age of 70

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