The UK Judiciary

Question 1

How many Supreme Court Justices are there?

Answer 1

12

Question 2

When did the UK Supreme Court open?

Answer 2

2009

Question 3

Where did the Supreme Court Justices sit before the opening of the SC?

Answer 3

-justices sat as Law Lords in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords

Question 4

Which positions make up the senior judiciary?

Answer 4

-heads of division
-justices of the Supreme Court
-Lord Justices of Appeal
-High Court Justices

Question 5

How were appointments previously made to the SC?

Answer 5

-appointments were made by the monarch who was advised from the PM and Lord Chancellor
-Lord Chancellor would make a ‘pick’ from a sounding of those already serving the senior judiciary

Question 6

Why was the old system of appointing SC Justices criticised?

Answer 6

-lacked transparency
-undermined the separation of powers

Question 7

What was created to improve the transparency of nominations?

Answer 7

-the Judicial Appointment Committee

Question 8

Constititional Reform Act (2005)

Answer 8

-reduced the power of the Lord Chancellor would
-puts most senior judicial appointments in the hand of the independent judicial Appointment Committee (JAC)
-provided the creation of the SC

Question 9

What qualifications must an individual hold to be appointed to the UK SC?

Answer 9

-must have held high judicial office for 2 years or been a ‘qualifying’ practitioner for 15 years

Question 10

What does the nomination process look like for the SC?

Answer 10

-a vacancy arises
-5 member selection commission convenes to consider possible nominees
-commission submit their candidate to the Lord Chancellor (accept or reject candidate)
-Lord Chancellor accepts the nomination notifying the OM
-PM then recommends appointed to the monarch
-appointment confirmed when the monarch issues letter patent

Question 11

What proportion of SC justices went to a private school?

Answer 11

9/12 compared to 7% of the UK

Question 12

What proportion of the SC Justices went to oxbridge?

Answer 12

11/12 compared to 1% of the population

Question 13

What was the avergae age of a justice in 2021?

Answer 13

65

Question 14

When was the first woman appointed to the UKSC?

Answer 14

-2009
-Lucy Hale
-then went on to become the first female president of the SC in 2017

Question 15

Why was the UK SC established?

Answer 15

-there were concerns over an incomplete separation of powers
-criticism of the system under which the Law Lords were appointed
-confusion in the general public over the status and function of the Law Lords

Question 16

What are 3 key function of the SC?

Answer 16

-final court of appeals
-to hear appeals of civil cases in Scotland
-to hear appeals in cases where there is uncertainty to clarify the meaning of a law

Question 17

What does A.V Dicey state that the ‘rule of law’ is?

Answer 17

-one of the twin pillars of the English Constitution

Question 18

What does Dicey identify as the 3 strands of the ‘rule of law’?

Answer 18

-no one can be punished without trial
-No one is above the law and all are subject to the same justice
-the general principle of the Constitution is the result of decisions from justices

Question 19

Example going against the statement “No one can be punished without trial”?

Answer 19

-terrorist suspects have been subject to a range of punishments without trial since 2001
-indefinitely detention and the freezing of assets

Question 20

Example going against the statement “No one is above the law and all are subject to the same justice”?

Answer 20

-there are those who are effectively above the law
-the monarch, international ambassadors and MPs under parliamentary privilege

Question 21

Example going against the statement “The general principles of the Constitution result from decisions of judges”?

Answer 21

-parliament remains sovereign
-legal precedents can be overturned by an act of parliament

Question 22

Judicial independence

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Judicial Impartiality

Answer 23

Judges operate without personal bias in their administration of justice

Question 24

What feature of the UK system support judicial independence?

Answer 24

-security of tenure
-guaranteed salaries
-contempt of court
-growing separation of powers
-an independent appointment system
-training and experience

Question 25

Evidence that the UKSC justices have security of tenure?

Answer 25

-judges are appointed for an open ended term -politician’s can’t threaten to remove them -impeaching a justice requires a vote in both houses

Question 26

Where do justices salaries come from?

Answer 26

-judge’s salaries are paid from the consolidate fund -politicians can’t manipulate salaries

Question 27

How is judicial impartiality guaranteed?

Answer 27

-anonymity (judges are expected to avoid being drawn into open defence of their rulings) -political activity -legal justifications judgements -high level training

Question 28

What threats are there to judicial impartiality

Answer 28

-the narrow pool for recruiting justices (most are privately educated and oxbridge graduates + don’t represent a wide range of experiences) -JAC has done little to change that -passing of the HRA (1998) means that there is greater conflict between judges and politicians

Question 29

Argument that the UK judiciary has become more politicised?

Answer 29

-HRA (1998) drew judges into political fray by requiring them to rule on the ‘merit’ of an individual piece of statute law, rather than its application -Factortame V Secretary of State for Transport (meant that courts could suspend acts of parliament that were thought to contradict EU law) -creation of the SC brought justices into the public arena (more scrutiny) -politicians have broken conventions by criticising rulings

Question 30

Argument that the UK judiciary has not become more politicised?

Answer 30

-the JAC has enhanced transparency and addressed political interference -SC has become more independent since the Constitutional Reform Act (2005) -conflict between justices and politician’s shows that the courts are challenging the gov on civil liberties -judges benefit from security of tenure and guaranteed salaries

Question 31

Why can the UKSC not strike down laws?

Answer 31

-parliamentary sovereignty and an uncodified constition

Question 32

Judicial Review

Answer 32

-judges review the actions of public officials/bodies to determine whether they have acted in a manner that is lawful -by doing so they set judicial precedence

Question 33

What is an ultra vires ruling?

Answer 33

-when a public body/ official has acted beyond the authority granted to them under the law

Question 34

Summary of Reilly v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Answer 34

-judges were asked to rule on the lawfulness of the ‘welfare to work’ scheme -Reilly argued that the DWP had infringed protection against slavery -Article 4 of ECHR Court ruled the the DWP had not established slavery but acted ultra vires

Question 35

How did the government get around the ruling of Reilly v Secretary of State for Work Pensions?

Answer 35

-passed the Jobseekers Act (2013) meant that no offence has been committed -the court state that changing the law retrospectively was incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR Court ruled

Question 36

How did the government get around the ruling of Reilly v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions?

Answer 36

-passed the Jobseekers Act (2013) meant that no offence has been committed -the court state that changing the law retrospectively was incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR

Question 37

What was the European Communities Act (1972)?

Answer 37

-UK incorporated the Treaty of Rome into UK law -gave European Law precedence over UK law -meant that the government could be held to account at the European court of justice

Question 38

What happened in the Factortame case?

Answer 38

-series of connected cases where the ECJ established the precedent that UK courts could suspend any UK Statute law that violated EU law

Question 39

When was the HRA passed in the UK?

Answer 39

-1998 -comes into effect in 2000 -incorporates ECHR into UK

Question 40

Summary of Tigere v Secretary of State for Business (2015)?

Answer 40

-shows how judges have used ECHR to protect against discrimination -Tigere arrived in England as a child and was given ‘discretionary leave to remain’ -meant she wasn’t eligible for a student loan because the could ‘indefinite leave to remain’ -UKSC accepted Tigere’s appeal as it went against her Article 2 rights of the ECHR to access an education

Question 41

Limitations of the SC’s powers under the HRA (1998)

Answer 41

-HRA is not entrenched or superior to a regular statute -HRA can be derogated (parts of it suspended during times of national emergency) -the court can not strike down parliamentary stature under HRA

Question 42

Argument that the UK judiciary HAS had an impact on the work of the executive and judiciary in recent years?

Answer 42

-CRA (2005) increased judicial independence (meant that judges have had a more public profile) -allowing cases to be heard under ECHR has increase the court power -precedent established under Factortame (allows judges to suspend actions of the executive that are against EU law) -Maastricht Treaty (1992) brought conflict between judges and politician’s over a wider range of policy

Question 43

Argument that the UK judiciary HAS NOT had an impact on the work of the executive and judiciary in recent years?

Answer 43

-relocation of the court in 2009 didn’t change the constitutional relationship with the judiciary -parliament is under no legal obligation to fall in line with a court’s ruling -senior judges can assess that a politician has acted ultra vires, however they can assess retrospective legislation to legitimise their actions -Brexit meant that the UK would not be subject to EU law after its leaving period

Question 44

Feature of the European Court of Human Rights

Answer 44

-established by the council of Europe -hears cases brought under ECHR -not an EU body

Question 45

Features of the European Court of Justice

Answer 45

-SC of the EU -Hears cases under EU law -based in Luxembourg

Question 46

How did Brexit affect the UKs obligations to EU law?

Answer 46

-Brexit involved withdrawing from the Treaty of Rome -EU law would no longer take precedent over UK law

Question 47

Impact leaving the EU had on the SC

Answer 47

-proportion of cases had related to EU law were removed -SC no longer enforced with enforcing EU law over UK law -removed a court superior to the UKSC, enhance its authority

Question 48

Summary of R v Horncastle (2009)

Answer 48

-hearsay evidence could be used as a basis of conviction

Question 49

Summary of Prest v Pretrodel LTD (2013)

Answer 49

-company assets should be seen as separate from individual assets

Question 50

Summary of Nicklinson v Ministry for Justice

Answer 50

-Article 8 of the ECHR couldn’t be used to justify assisted suicide over the Suicide Act (1996)

Question 51

Summary of Sutherland v Her Majesty’s Advocate (2020)

Answer 51

-Sutherland was convicted of communicating indecently with a 13 year old (actually a 48 year old decoy) -Court unanimously rejected Sutherland’s appeal that using covertly obtained based evidence breached Article 8 of the ECHR couldn't

Question 52

Summary of Begum v Special Immigration Appeals (2020)

Answer 52

-court of Appeal rolled that Begum had the right under Articles 2 & 3 of ECHR to challenge the UK governments decision to strip her of her citizenship -she would also be permitted to return to the UK to plead her case

Question 53

Summary of the SC Prorogation ruling (2019)

Answer 53

-the court found that the use of the royal prerogative to prorogue parliament must respect the convention of parliamentary sovereignty -declared Johnson’s prorogation of parliament unlawful