UK P2 - Relationship between Branches Flashcards
Which law created the Supreme Court?
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 - court finally opened in 2009. One of the Blair/Brown constitutional reforms.
Why was the UK Supreme Court created?
Designed to improve the separation of powers (executive, judiciary, legislature) by moving the LAW LORDS out of the HoL into their own building.
Give 5 facts about the UK Supreme court
- Final court of appeal in the UK
- It is an appallate court (meaning it only hears cases appealed from other courts)
- There are 12 Supreme Court judges
*Only 2 of the judges are female. (2023). None are from an ethnic minority. - The most famous judge (retired) is probably Lady Hale
What happens when a judge retires or dies?
A special group called the Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC) will choose the new judge. This is an independent group from within the judiciary. In the USA, the president chooses the next judge.
What are the 2 key principles of the UK Supreme Court
Judicial independence
Judicial neutrality
What is Judicial Neutrality?
Judges should be (and appear to be) as neutral as possible. This means they do not publically display their own opinions and all of their decisions should be based solely on the law.
This means they should avoid favouring one group over another and their judgements should be fair.
However… we are all human, all make mistakes, and all have our own experiences which shape us.
What is judicial independence?
This means that judges should be as free as possible from outside influence when making their decisions. This means they should be protected from threats of firing, bribes or public criticism.
It is an important principle of the separation of powers that judges should not be contolled by either the legislature or the executive.
Give 5 reasons why UK judicial neutrality might be seen to be working well.
- Legal training should keep bias to one side
- Appointments committee only chooses judges who don’t share personal views
- Judges now come from a wider range of backgrounds than they used to (2 women!)
- The possibility that cases can be appealed helps to persuade judges to keep their personal opinions to themselves - as they don’t want their decision to be overruled.
- By assigning multiple judges to each case, this can minimise bias. Because if one judge is biased, the others outnumber them.
Give 4 reasons why judicial neutrality might not be working so well.
- Most judges are ‘pale, male and stale’ (all from same background)
- Most judges are privately educated. (all from same background)
- Judges are often seen as part of an ‘elite establishment class’ (not on the side of the everyday people)
- Judges have made more decisions that seem to be political. For example, overuling Boris’ proroguing of parliament. Some think that judges shouldn’t get involved with this.
Give 8 reasons why judicial independence might be working so well.
- The Lord Chancellors job is to protect judges from outside influences
- Judges are appointed until retirement (can’t be fired)
- Judges are protected from being removed by a gvt who doesn’t like their decisions.
- Politicians cannot appoint judges (JAC does)
- Decisions by the court are supposed to be free from criticism by parliament, media and executive.
- Judges have a fixed and high salary. This is supposed to protect them from threats and bribes.
- Membership of the EC Human Rights act gives an independent law for judges to follow.
- The Supreme Court is now a separate building from Parliament
Give 5 reasons why judicial independence might not be working so well.
- Although they have never rejected the JAC’s suggestion, technically The PM has the final say on judicial appointments.
- Newspapers and media are increasingly critical of judges (see Rwanda, Boris, Brexit, etc)
- Right wing politicians have become more critical of judicial decisions (see above)
- Johnson planned to create a law to overrule judicial decisions if minisrers didn’t agree.
- The conservatives have repeatedly talked about removing Britain from the ECHR.
What is a Judicial Review?
Judicial Review i when judges conduct a review into government ministers (or other officials) to see whether their actions or laws are legal.
Sometimes they decided that an action is ULTRA VIRES (beyond the powers). This is what happened to Boris when he tried to close parliament.
How does a Judicial Review start?
Someone has to fund a legal case so it is brought to the court. This is expensive and often these actions need the support of pressure groups or VERY wealthy people in order to happen.
Who wins most judicial review cases?
The government wins 9 out of 10 cases. However there have been some important cases when the government has lost (e.g Brown was forced to release terror suspects, Rwanda case).
Why are some people not a fan of judicial review?
They believe it gives the judiciary too much power and it POLITICISES the judiciary by getting them to make political decisions (not just legal ones).
