Judiciary Examples

Question 1

Examples of judicial independence being upheld

Answer 1

• 2005 Constitutional Reform Act removed the final court of appeal from the Law Lords because it consisted of Justices who sat and were able to vote in the House of Lords. Only a convention limited the Law Lords legislative powers
• Constitutional Reform Act 2005 separated the role of the Lord Chancellor into 3, previously they were a member of the cabinet (executive), speaker of the House of Lords (legislative) and Head of the Judiciary
• Judicial appointments commission oversees the selection of judges, separate from the government
• Judges are paid from the consolidated fund which is outside the governments influence

Question 2

Examples of three roles of the judiciary

Answer 2

1) Interpretation of the law, for example the UK is a common law system, murder is not a statute law the sentence is decided by judges based on previous cases

2) Judicial review, for example 2019 R (Miller) vs Prime Minister, Supreme Court declared that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful

3) Protection of human rights, for example the Supreme Court has declared the Rwanda deportation plan as unlawful due to human rights questions

Question 3

Examples of three ways the Supreme Court has impacted the policy process

Answer 3

1) Judicial review of government actions, for example R (Miller) v Prime Minister, Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson’s

2) Interpretation of legislation, for example in Nicklinson v Ministry of Justice the Supreme Court ruled that assisted suicide is incompatible with article 8 of the echr

3) Uphold human rights, for example Rwanda deportation scheme unlawful

Question 4

Examples of criticisms of the composition of the judiciary

Answer 4

• does not represent the make up of the population, e.g. the Supreme Court has two women, Lady Rose and Lady Simler, out of 12 positions and no ethnic minority justices
• privately educated, e.g. 71% of senior judges have graduated from Oxbridge according to a 2019 report by Sutton Trust
• political bias, e.g. 2017 Miller vs Secretary of state for exiting the European union denied the government from invoking article 50 without parliaments approval, the Supreme Court was found to have justices with personal bias and links to the eu