Half Of UK's Law Lords Oppose Plans For Supreme Court

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

10 November 2003

Half of the UK's 12 sitting Law Lords have criticised the government's plans to create a supreme court, dubbing them "unnecessary" and "harmful".

Responding to a consultation on the proposed reform of the UK's judicial system, Lords Nicholls, Hoffman, Hope, Hutton, Millett and Rodger reportedly argued that their presence in the House of Lords (which they suggested has a good reputation internationally as a judicial body) benefits them, the House, and litigants.

However, according to a report in the Law Gazette on Friday, senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham, and Lords Steyn, Savile, and Walker were all of the opinion that a separation of the judiciary from the executive is "a cardinal feature of a modern, liberal, democratic state governed by the rule of law".

The Law Lords also expressed concern that the Lord Chancellor's duty to protect certain constitutional issues and to ensure judicial independence, should continue to be upheld after the role itself has been abolished.

This was an attitude supported by Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, who on Thursday called for an "entirely new constitutional settlement" to safeguard the independence of judges.

"To ensure the continuation of an independent judiciary, the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the Court Service, it is necessary for the responsibilities for the new Secretary of State to be clearly defined in primary legislation," he observed.

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