judiciry

Question 1

What is the role of the judiciary ?

Answer 1

They preside over criminal trials for serious offences

• Deliver sentences
• They hear appeals

Question 2

What are the two types of judges ?

Answer 2

Superior and inferior

Question 3

What are the types of superior judges ?

Answer 3

• Head of the judiciary - the president of the courts of England and Wales( lord chief justice)
• The supreme court justices - ( the law lords) who sit in the supreme court) previously called the privy council
• The lords justice of appeals- who sit in the court of appeal , head of the criminal divisions is the lord chief justice.
• High court judges ( sitting in the high court) hear the serious cases in the crown court

Question 4

What are the types of inferior judges

Answer 4

• Circuit judges - sit in the crown court and the county court
• Recorders - part time judges that sit in the crown court and sometimes in the county court
• District judges- hear cases in the county court usually small claims and are qualified as judges in the magistrates

Question 5

Why may judges have a different roles ?

Answer 5

Because it depends on it is a civil case or criminal

2. Whether it is a first instance or an appeal

Question 6

What are the roles of the courts in first instance ?

Answer 6

• Supervises over court and keeps order
• Ensures rules of evidence and procedure are kept
• Ensures fair treatment for all parties and protects rights of the individual

Question 7

What is the judicial Role in Appeals Court:

Answer 7

• Decide whether permission to appeal should be granted
• Decisions are usually made by 3 judges, but may be more, 5, 7 or even 9 in serious cases
• Decide whether the result from the first court is wrong

Question 8

What statue sets out the qualifications of judges ?

Answer 8

• Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

Question 9

How are judges selected and appointed before the constitutional reform act 2005?

Answer 9

• They were traditionally appointed by the government of the day
• Senior judges were appointed by the PM
• High Court Judges and
  Circuit judges were appointed by the Lord Chancellor, m

Question 10

What were the dangers of appointments before the constitutional reform act 2005 ?

Answer 10

• Became a means of rewarding relatives and friends (nepotism)
• Meant that people were not chosen because of their judicial merit but rather because of their
  political leanings and known views on matters of public life (partisanship)

Question 11

What did the constitutional reform act 2005 introduce to make judicial appointments more neutral ?

Answer 11

• The Judicial appointments commision (JAC)

Question 12

How are the appointments of the supreme court justices made

Answer 12

justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by a special committee.
- f the President of the Court must convene a
Supreme Court selection commission. They decide the selection process to be used and report the
selection to the Lord Chancellor, who notified the Prime Minister, who then recommends to the Quee

Question 13

Summaries the appointment process.

Answer 13

1. Post’s are advertised ie in papers , legal journals
2. Eligibility tests and
   character check - five judicial qualities
3. Qualifying test - ie lower level applicants will be asked to write an essay’s or case studies where as senior judges will have to supply references
4. A shortlist and interview-

5 Face to face assessment- tend a selection day for an interview or a role play or formal structured discussion.

6. Recommendation to the lord chancellor- feedback is given to unsuccessful applicants to assist with any future applications.

Question 14

What are the five judicial quantities listed by the JAC that suggests desirability

Answer 14

• Intellectual capacity
• Personal qualities such as integrity , sound judgement
• Ability to understand and deal fairly
• Authority and communication skills
• Efficiency

Question 15

Explain judicial training

Answer 15

• Training is the responsibility of the Judicial College established in 2011. Most training is focused at newly appointed judges, i.e. recorders.
• pointed they go on a one week course run by the Judicial College and shadow an
  experienced judge for a week. Judges attend updating 6 courses annually
• visit prisons, young offenders’ institutions, etc. There are compulsory residential
  updating courses for judges in Crown, County and High Courts.

Question 16

Give an argument suggesting that judicial training is not enough

Answer 16

• There can be an argument that suggests that judges do not get enough training because:
• training is very short, even experienced lawyers do not have experience of summing up to the jury or sentencing.
• Some recorders have not had any practice as criminal lawyers- limited expertise is very limited, one week far too short.

Question 17

Give an argument suggesting that judicial training is strong.

Answer 17

• Training includes human awareness, issues like gender awareness, disability issues, impact of crimes on victims, jurors, witnesses, issues of sensitive language, how to deal with unrepresented parties

Question 18

Give an argument suggesting that there should be a career judiciary.

Answer 18

• it was modernise the judiciary because countries like France people may go straight into being trained as judges instead of having to spend years practising as an advocate first. This leads to younger average age of judges, with more training in the specific skills they need as judges
• However there are issues of whether they are too linked to the government as they are civil servants and not sufficiently independent.

Question 19

Explain the removal of judges .l

Answer 19

• Superior judges (High Court and above) have Security of tenure- this means that judges can’t dismissed by the Lord Chancellor or the government. They can only be removed from their post if both Houses of Parliament petition the Queen to that effect.
• Although inferior judges do not have the same security of tenure , if a judge is deemed to be unsatisfactory ssure will be put on him to resign. This has occurred with High Court judges on two occasions.
• Inferior judges can be dismissed by the Lord Chancellor on limited grounds for incapacity or misbehaviour e.g. failure to complete training, or repeated failure to meet sitting requirements
  Suspension from office – the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 set up disciplinary procedures.
  Complaints about the personal conduct of judges are investigated by the Office for Judicial Complaints and Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have the power to advise, warn or remove a judge for misconduct,

Question 20

What is security of tenure and why is it significant.

Answer 20

Security of tenure is the inability of judges to be dismissed or blackmailed by political influences
- This is significant because it upholds judicial naturality

Question 21

Give some examples of judges being removed from the court system

Answer 21

• Security of tenure - 1830 to remove Judge Barrington who had misappropriated money from court funds

Question 22

Give 3 arguments that critics the judiciary.

Answer 22

1, The judiciary is unrepresentative of society they serve the majority of white , middle class , [privately educated people amongst society, suggesting that this is a problem for modern law because it represents outdated principles for example s, 5% are Asian or Asian British, and 1% are black. there is also a lack of female representation lady hale is the first and only supreme court justice

2. POLITICAL BIAS - from the 1970s there was a view that judges were to conservative e to make objective decisions in “political” cases. The main critic was Prof Griffiths, The Politics of the Judiciary 1977 who argued that judges were too pro-establishment and conservative. Also the recent cases of the triggering of article 50 and the propagation of parliament confirm this idea suggesting that there isn’t a political neutral judiciary
3. Training is very weak , too short

Question 23

Give 3 arguments in favour of the judiciary.

Answer 23

1. Judges have proved that they can be independent and challenge government. The prorogation of parliament demonstrates this specifically unconstitutional gov rulings

Question 24

Explain the

Question 25

Explain the role of the judiciary 10

Question 26

Explain the eligibility criteria required to become a judge

10

Question 27

Explain the appointment process for the judiciary

Question 28

Analyse and evaluate the extent to which judges are independent and representative of society.

Answer 28

intro ..

For
- Constitutional reform act 2005 the first step to reforming the judicial system to uphold and introduce more independence - removed the lord chancellor from the head of the judiciary thus eliminating any political influences and bias on to the UK justice system therefore suggesting that judges are independent and represent a new aged society …

• Expanding in its representation, an increase in diversity specifically amongst women 34% of court judges and 50% of tribunal judges were women as at 1 April 2021 which is a drastic chnage from 2009 where only 29% of women made up the uk judicial system

Against
- Although the constitutional reform act has