UK Supreme Court

Question 1

what did the CRA 2005 do?

Answer 1

• Replaced the 12 law lords with the supreme court in 2009
• Separation of the judiciary from the legislature
• Clarified the role of Lord Chancellor

Question 2

How many judicial appointments are made directly by the judiciary in 2014?

Answer 2

97%

Question 3

what percentage of the judiciary were women and had a non-white ethnic background in 2012?

Answer 3

20% non-white

22% women

Question 4

what did the supreme court rule in relation to Article 50?

Answer 4

January 2017 the supreme court ruled that parliaments approval was needed before the government could trigger article 50

Question 5

what are the 3 strands of the rule of law?

Answer 5

• No one can be punished without trial
• No one is above the law and all are subject to the same justice
• the general principles of the constitution result from the judges’ decisions rather than from parliamentary status

Question 6

what does ultra vires mean?

Answer 6

exceeding it’s powers

Question 7

what is judicial independence?

Answer 7

-the principle that those in the judiciary should be free from political control

Question 8

what is judicial neutrality?

Answer 8

• where judges operate impartially

- essential requirement of rule of law

Question 9

how is judicial independence maintained?

Answer 9

• security of tenure
• guaranteed salaries paid from consolidated fund
• the offence of contempt from court
• growing separation of powers
• training and experience of senior judges

Question 10

how is judicial neutrality guaranteed?

Answer 10

• the relative anonymity of senior judges
• restriction on political activity
• legal justifications of judgements
• high-level training

Question 11

why is it important that the judiciary is politically independent?

Answer 11

• cases involving government power should be free of influence by government
• citizens need to feel they will have a fair hearing
• courts need to be politically neutral
• judiciary is a key safeguard against extensions of state power

Question 12

what happened in the case of R.(Reilly) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2016)

Answer 12

Reilly argued that in requiring her to work for a private company in order to receive her benefit payments the DWP had infringed the protection against slavery provided in Article 4 of the ECHR. The Court of Appeal ruled the government department had not established slavery but had acted beyond the authority given to it by parliament under statute law.

Question 13

what was Factortame?

Answer 13

A case in which the European Court of Justice (ECJ) established the precedent that UK courts can suspend UK statute law where it appears to violate EU law, at least until the ECJ is able to make a final determination as to the legality pf the statute in question. The case took it’s name from a Spanish-owned fishing company, Factortame Limited, which had challenged the legality of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 under European law.

Question 14

what is the ECHR (1950)?

Answer 14

the european convention on human rights was established by the council of Europe, an intergovernmental body that is separate from the european union. alleged violations of the ECHR are investigated by the european commission on human rights and tried in the european court of human rights, based in Strasbourg.

Question 15

what does derogation mean?

Answer 15

A process by which a country is exempted, perhaps temporarily , from observing a law or regulation it has previously agreed to abide by. Under Article 15 of the ECHR national governments are permitted to derogate some of the conventions articles in times of national crisis

Question 16

what is an example of the UK supreme court hearing a case relating to EU law?

Answer 16

United States of America v Nolan (2015)

• resulted from a claim against the us government under the Trade Union and Relations Act 1992
• Nolan, employed by the US army at a base in Hampshire, argued there should have been more consultation with workers’ representatives before making her redundant
• US government argued the Secretary of State had acted ultra vires under the European Communities Act (1972), because the 1995 regulations under which Nolan had made her original claim went beyond the basic rights given under EU law.
• Supreme Court found in Nolan’s favour arguing the secretary of state has no exceeded his powers when issuing regulations in 1995

Question 17

what is an example case of the supreme court and the human rights act?

Answer 17

R. (Tigere) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (2015)

• Beaurish Tigere, who had arrived to the UK from Zambia aged 6, was not eligible for a student loan for her undergraduate degree because she did not have indefinite leave to remain in the UK and would not be able to apply to the UK Border Agency for this until 2018
• In 2015, the UK Supreme Court accepted her appeal on the grounds that the negative impact in the appellant’s rights under Article 2 of the ECHR (the right to education) and also Article 14 (prohibiting discrimination) could not be justified.

Question 18

arguments that the UK judiciary has become more politicised in recent years?

Answer 18

• HRA required judges to rule on the merit of a piece of statute law as opposed to it’s application
• Factortame established the precedent that UK courts can suspend Acts of Parliament where they are thought to contradict EU law
• creation of supreme court in 2009 and physical relocation has brought senior judges into public arena and subjected them to greater scrutiny
• Politicians broken convention by publicly criticising rulings handed down by senior judges (eg Brexit Minister David Davis did this when he reacted to a November 2016 High Court Ruling which stated that the government could not trigger Article 50 without parliamentary scrutiny)

Question 19

arguments that the UK supreme court have not become more politicised in recent years?

Answer 19

• appointments process for senior judges has been made more transparent and less open to accusations of political interference
• UK senior judiciary has become more independent in wake of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, such as downgrading role of lord chancellor
• increased conflict between judges and politicians is a positive thing because it shows the courts are prepared to challenge the government when it appears to be encroaching upon our civil liberties
• senior judges still benefit from security of tenure and guaranteed salaries helps to insulate them from political pressure

Question 20

what does ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’ mean?

Answer 20

who is to guard the guards themselves

Question 21

what are three sources of authority?

Answer 21

• traditional authority: based on established traditions and customs
• charismatic authority: based on the characteristics of leaders
• legal-rational authority: granted by a formal process, such as an election

Question 22

what are factors which have enhanced the authority of the UK supreme court?

Answer 22

• a more independent and less opaque appointments process than that which applied to the Law Lords
• a clearer separation of powers accompanied by a clear physical separation between legislature and judiciary
• an ongoing process of ‘demystification’- with public visits, an intelligible website and enhanced coverage in the mainstream media

Question 23

What did Miller vs Secretary of State for exiting the EU rule?

Answer 23

ruled that the British Government (the executive) may not initiate withdrawal from the European Union by formal notification to the Council of the European Union as prescribed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union without an Act of Parliament giving the government Parliament’s permission to do so

Question 24

What is an example of a UK supreme court setting a precedence?

Answer 24

The case of Al Rawi v the Security Service outlawed the use of secret evidence by the intelligence services in court.