Supreme Court Examples

Question 1

Public inquiries that senior judges have had to chair include…

Answer 1

The 2010 Gibson Inquiry where Sir Peter Gibson led an inquiry into claims that British intelligence agencies has been complicit in the torture of terrorist suspects and the 2011 Leveson Inquiry where Lord Leveson led an inquiry into the behaviour of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal

Question 2

An example of the Supreme court interpreting UK law…

Answer 2

R V Maginnis. Looked at The Misuse of Drugs Act 1987, which states it’s an offence to posess a drug which they intend to supply to another. The defendant was found with Cannabis in his car, which he said was given to him by a friend, who was collecting it later. Therefore he wasn’t supplying drugs. However, the majority of Law Lords said he was intending on returing the drugs, and so he was in fact supplying them

Question 3

An example of “no one can be punished without trial” being broken and therefore braking the rule of law…

Answer 3

Terror suspects have been subject to a range of punishment without trial under measures passed since 2001, including indefinite detention, the imposition of control orders and the freezing of their assets

Question 4

An example of not everyone being subject to the same justice and therefore braking the rule of law…

Answer 4

A number of MPs tried to use parliamentary priviledge to end legal proceedings against them over their expences during the 2009 expenses scandal

Question 5

An example of the Supreme Court interpreting law and setting binding precedents as well as the extent to which the supreme courts can make law…

Answer 5

1st February 2023, Fearn v Tate Gallery, looking into the right to privacy of four property owners against the right for the general public to enjoy an unrestricted view of London, as Tate Modern’s extension platform allowed visitors to look directly into their homes. It mainly looked into whether ‘intrusive viewing’ should be considered a ‘tort of nuisance’ under the common law. The decision of 3 justices to 2 meant the homeowners won, overturning the decision of the court of appeal. Lord Leggatt made his decision based on precedents such as ordinary land uses have priority and that the interference was substantial.

Question 6

What is an example of the justice secretary defending judicial independence?

Answer 6

In 2011, Ken Clarke wrote to the ten home secretary Theresa May and to PM David Cameron to remind them of their duty of judicial independence, after they both criticised the Supreme Court’s decision in R V Secretary of State for Home Department. May was “disappointed and appauled” that individuals placed on the sex offenders register have the right to apply to have their position on the register reviewed

Question 7

The Lord Chancellor has clearly become less involved in the judicial appointments system because…

Answer 7

Between 2006 and 2013, Lord Chancellors only requested reconsideration or rejected candidates 5 times out of over 3,500 appointments

Question 8

What is an example of a local judge being removed after agreement from the Lord Chancellor and Lord chief justice…

Answer 8

District Judge Margaret Short in 2009 for her “inappropriate, petulant and rude” behaviour towards solicitors appearing before her in court. She had also taken leave without permission and made allegations against court staff

Question 9

What is an example of the contempt of court being broken

Answer 9

In 2012, The Daily Mirror and Daily Mail were fined £10,000 and had to pay a further £25,000 for breaking the contempt of court laws after both papers published background information about Levi Bellfield, the day after he was convicted of murder, even though it had not yet been in court. At the time, the jury was still considering separate charges of attempted kidnappings, meaning the story could have influenced the trial

Question 10

What is an example of MPs criticising judges for being too leanient, showing MPs have become more comfortable criticising judges

Answer 10

In June 2006 a crown court judge convicted a paedophile to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 5 years and 108 days. The Daily Express said the judiciary was “deluded, out of touch and frankly deranged”. The Home Secretary criticised the sentence as “unduly lenient” saying it “does not reflect the seriousness of the crime”

Question 11

What is an example of politicians being able to prevent the judiciary being paid

Answer 11

Judicial salaries were frozen by the 2010-2015 Conservative/Lib Dem cooalition, due to inflation. They also made cost saving changes to judicial pensions, which some critics argued undermined the principal of judicial independence

Question 12

What is a case where the government have been accused of acting ultra vires

Answer 12

HM Treasury V Ahmed and others. As a counter terrorism measure, the government began to freeze the bank accounts of individuals that were suspected of terrorism. However the supreme court ruled that there was no statute that granted such a power - the gov had therefore acted ultra vires when it froze the bank accounts. However as parliament remain sovereign, after their defeat in the court, the government proposed as passed the terrorist asses-freezing act (2010)

Question 13

Section 3 of the HRA requires the judiciary to interpret legislation, as far as possible, in a way which is compatible with Convention Rights. This means judges can read in, out or down. What is an example of judges reading down? This fits in with whether the judiciary have gained more power in recent years through the HRA

Answer 13

Ghaidan V Gonddin-Mendozza (2004) Mr Goddin Mendozza had lived with his male partner for 30 years. When his partner died, the landlord tried to evict him, claiming that he couldn’t inherit his tenancy because they were neither married nor a heterosexual couple. The rent Act (1970) stated that only a tennant who had been living “as his or her wife or husband” was intitled to inherit tenancy. However, the HOL used section 3 of the HRA to read down the Rent Act so it could be complied with conventional rights and therefore stop discrimination

Question 14

What is an example of the government having to break the HRA and judges measuring whether it is proportionate?

Answer 14

R V Governor of Full Sutton Prison (2004). The claimant was a serial killer who wanted to publish details of his murders in an autobiography. This would have been seen as the right to free speech under article 10. However, he was prevented from doing so as the judge saw it as a proportiate measure that the wider public interest- in particular the victims’ families was more important than the right to free speech

Question 15

What is an example of the supreme court solving disputes on devolved matters

Answer 15

The gov of wales act (2006) devolved the organisation and funding of the NHS to welsh assembly. In 2015, the Wales assembly passed The recovery of mediacal costs for asbestos diseases (wales) bill, which intended to make employers pay for those suufering from certain industrial diseases. However, the Supreme court ruled this was beyond the welsh assemblys power

Question 16

An example of a case that shows the extent of ultra vires power, while demonstrating the judiciary’s power under ECHR

Answer 16

R V secretary for work and pensions (2016). Reilly argued that in requiring her to work for a private company in ordder to receive her benefit payments, the department of work and pensions had infringed the protection against slavery in article 4 of the ECHR. The SC ruled in 2013 while the DWP hadn’t infringed the ECHR through their ‘welfare to work’ scheme, the scheme had acted ultra vires. By then, the gov had already passed the Jobseekers (Back to work schemes) Act, which changed the law respectively, so no offence had been committed. In 2016, the court of appeeal ruled that changing the law had been incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR (right to a free trial) but confirmed it was up to the gov and parl to decide how to proceed .

Question 17

An example of the supreme court defending human rights

Answer 17

R V Buisness, innovations and skills secretary (2015) Beaurish Tiger, who had arrived to the UK from Zambia aged 6 and completed her A levels, was not eligible for a student loan for her degree because she didn’t 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 SC accepted her appeal on the grounds that the negative impact on her appellant’s rights under Article 2 of the ECHR (the right to education) and article 14 (Prohibiting discrimination) couldn’t be justified.

Question 18

What are two examples that the new supreme court has not acted any differently to how the law lords would have acted

Answer 18

R V Ministry of justice- right to die- 2014. Article 8 of the ECHR could not be used over the suicide act (1961) as a means of justifying assisted suicide.
2011- Al Rawi V The security service. Focus on secret hearings. The significance was they outlawed the use of secret evidence by intelligence services in court

Question 19

What is an example that the court was truly breaking new ground

Answer 19

The UK SC Prorogation ruling 2019. R (Miller) V The Prime Minister. The SC argued that the use of the royal prorogative, must always respect the conventions of parliamentary sovereignty and democrtic accountability. Any prorogation that had ‘the effect of of frustrating or preventing, without reasonable justification, the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions as a legislature’ would therefore be unlawful. The prorogation in question had ‘extreme’ effect on the ‘fundamentals of democracy’ coming at such a crucial point in the Brexit process. In consequence, the court declared the prorogation unlawful and quashed the relevant Order in Council.

Question 20

What is a way in which the supreme court is prevented from being bias through their legal justifications and judgement

Answer 20

Since 2013, the SC have uploaded videos of justices making their final decision on Youtube. There is also a live stram of proceedings on the SC website

Question 21

Example of the courts taking neutrality seriously and overturning a case in the matter of someone not recusing themselves

Answer 21

The Pinochet case (1999) The HOL decided to overturn a ruling, made by a panel of Law Lords on whether extradition hearings could begin against General Augusto Pinochet. One of the judges, Lord Hoffmann, was also the chairman of amnesty international, which had campaigned against general pinochet. The HOL did not believe Hoffmann had been biased, but it argued that the appearance of absolute neutrality had to be maintained

Question 22

What is an example(s) of senior judges becoming more vocal in recent years

Answer 22

In March 2013, in interviews with the BBC and Guardian, Lord Neuberger (President of the sc) raised concerns over the govs plans to cut the legal aid budget, reform human rights law and introduce ‘secret courts’
In 2015, numerous judges criticised the new ‘criminal courts charge’, which required convicted criminals to pay £150-1,200 towards the cost of their case. Over 100 magistrates resigned in protest

Question 23

What is an example of members of the judiciary losing their anonomity as people become more interested in them?

Answer 23

R(Miller) V Secretary of state for exiting the European Union. Supreme court had to determine whether the government could trigger article 50 of the treaty on EU and begin the withdrawl process, using prorogative powers. The 11 justices faced intense media scrutiny - journalists looked at their personal backgrounds, employment history and views of their family members for signs of bias. The Daily Mail highlighted that four of the justices had professional links to the EU and six had relationships with people who had criticised Brexit or supported the remain campaign. Only four judges had no clear links with remain and one had expressed Eurosceptic views. In the end, 8 said that the PM couldn’t trigger article 50, while 3 said she could

Question 24

What is an example of the SC making a ruling that some would see as wrong because of the lack of diversity in the court?

Answer 24

Radmarcher V Gratiano (2010) The case was centered around whether prenuptial agreements should be given decisive weight in divorce proceedings. The supreme court ruled 8-1 that prenups should be given weight in divorce proceedings- Lady Hale, the sole female justice wrote a dissenting opinion and said there is a “gender dimension to the issue”

Question 25

What is an example of the judiciary being unwilling to challenge the executive previously?

Answer 25

Liversidge V Anderson (1941) Defence regulations 1939 permitted the Home secretary to inprison people if he has “reasonable cause”. The Home Secretary used this to imprison Robert Liversidge. He didn’t provide a reason or evidence and so Liversidge asked the courts to review the decision. A majority of Law Lords defered to the Home Secretary’s belief that he had such a case. However, Lord Atkin said the court was abdicating its responsibility to check executive power.

Question 26

What is an example of the courts being more more authoritative recently

Answer 26

R(Miller) V Secretary of state for exiting the European Union. Supreme court had to determine whether the government could trigger article 50 of the treaty on EU and begin the withdrawl process, using royal prorogative powers. The SC argued it has been established sice the Case of proclamations and the bill of rights that the royal prerogative cannot be used to amend or repeal existing laws such as the European Communities Act 1972. Therefore there must be parliamentary approval to trigger article 50

Question 27

How has the number of judicial review cases changed?

Answer 27

In 1982, there were only 685 applications for judicial review, whereas by 2013, there were 15,700 applications

Question 28

What is an example of the courts trying to have more power over the legislature, but the legislature ignoring it?

Answer 28

The European court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that the UK’s blanket ban on prisoners voting is a breach of human rights. However, the HOC passed a motion against prisoners gaining the right to vote by 234 to 22 in 2011. Article 46 of the ECHR requires the UK to “abide by the final judgement” of the court- should the almost unanimous view of the elected representatives be questioned by unelected and unaccountable from judges across Europe