Politics - UK Judiciary

What are the 2 divisions within the court of appeal?

Criminal division and civil division

Who was the first women to serve as president of the UK Supreme Court?

Baroness Hale

Who does the judiciary include?

Justices of the Supreme Court, heads of divisions, lord justices of appeal, high court judges and deputy high court judges

Who makes appointments to the judiciary?

The musical appointments committee (JAC)

How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

12

Why was the judicial appointments committee (JAC) created?

To give more transparency and legitimacy to process of appointing senior judges

How long do you have to hold high judicial office or be a ‘qualifying practitioner’ for to be on the Supreme Court?

High judicial office for at least 2 years, ‘qualifying practitioner’ for 15 years

What is a qualifying practitioner?

Someone who has a senior court’s qualification or is a solicitor entitled to appear in the Scottish court of session or is a member of the bar of NI

What act created the provision for the creation of the Supreme Court?

The constitutional reform act 2005

When did the Supreme Court sit for the first time?

1st October 2009

What is the Supreme Court?

The final court of appeal for civil, and criminal cases in England, wales and Northern Ireland

What does the Supreme Court have the final responsibility for?

The interpretation of the human rights act

Before the establishment of the Supreme Court what was the UK’s highest court?

The House of Lords

How many justices are there in cases of particular constitutional importance?

11

Example of a case with only 11 justices?

R (Miller) V Secretary of State for exiting the EU (2017)

What is judicial neutrality?

The requirement that judges fulfil their role exercising personal bias

What is judicial independence?

Requires that judges are free from political interference

How can a Supreme Court justice be removed?

If they break the law

In which ruling did Chris Grayling exceed his powers in 2016?

that legal claimants needed to pass a residency test before qualifying for financial support

In which ruling did Kenneth Baker exceed his powers in 1991?

Failing to comply with a court order in an asylum case

What is judicial review?

Judges review the actions of public bodies or public officials to determine whether or not they have acted in a manner that is unlawful

In what proportion of judicial review cases do the court rule against a public body?

36%

Why have the number of judicial review cases been falling?

Due to a change in government policy

How many judicial review cases were there in 2014?

15,000

How many judicial review cases are there now annually?

5,000

Under what article of the HRA did the Supreme Court rule that overseas nationals convicted of criminal offences should be allowed to stay in the UK because they have family there?

Article 8

What effect does a declaration of incompatibility with the HRA have on the government?

It is a suggestion that the government should reconsider the existing law and can be ignored

What proportion of all judges are women?

42%

What proportion of solicitors are women?

53%

What proportion of judges are part of an ethnic minority?

11%

What proportion of solicitors are part of an ethnic minority?

19%

What case prevented assisted suicide and up held the suicide act 1961?

R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice (2014)

What case found that agreements between married couples on how assets should be distributed in case of divorce are legally binding?

Radmacher v Granatino (2010)

What case argued that the gov could not leave the EU without a vote in parliament?

Miller v Secretary of State for exiting the EU (2017)

What judge from 2011 to 2018 overstepped the rule of law?

Lord Sumption

Who is the UK Supreme Court president?

Lord (Robert) Reed

Who said “We don’t do politics, we do decide legal questions which can have political ramifications”?

Lord (Robert) Reed

What was the verdict of R (Miller) v Secretary of State for exiting the EU (2017)?

8-3 that parliament had to approve the use of article 50 of the treaty on EU

What unanimous judgement came to the conclusion that the prerogation of parliament was unconstitutional?

R (Miller) v the Prime minister (2019)

What did Lady Hale encourage her colleagues to do?

Reimagine the how the law might better protect politically marginalised groups, particularly children

Overreach definition?

The Supreme Court goes beyond its powers

Example of overreach?

The miller litigation

What was the case Reily v Secretary of State for work and pensions (2016) about?

The lawfulness of certain aspects of the government’s ’welfare to work’ scheme

What did Reily argue?

That the Dep for work and pensions (DWP) had infringed the protection against Alavert provided in article 4 of the European convention on human rights by required her to work for a private company to receive her benefit payments

What was the conclusion of Reily v Secretary of State for work and pensions?

Unlawful because the department had operated ultra viris

What act incorporated the UK into the treaty of Rome?

European communities Act 1972

What precedent did factortame establish?

That UK courts could suspend UK statue law when it wanted EU law

What did the case factortame take it’s name from?

A mainly Spanish owned fishing company

What act did the factortame case challenge the legality of?

The merchant shipping act 1988 under European law

What was the outcome of factortame?

Because factortame were registers as British their catches counted against the UK’s EU fishing quote even though most of the boats landed their fish in Spain

What does the case Tigere v Secretary of State for business, innovation and skills (2015) show?

How senior judges have been able to use provisions of the ECHR to protect people against discrimination

How did Beaurish Tigere arrive in the UK from Zambia at 6?

As a dependent of her dad on a student visa

When did Tigere encounter issues that she had overstayed her ‘temporary permission’?

When she got a place to Northumbria uni and wasn’t eligible for a student loan and was unable to apply for requires ‘indefinite leave to remain’ on UK until 2018

Under what grounds did the UK Supreme Court accept Tigere’s appeal?

That the negative impact on her rights under article 2 of ECHR (right to eduaction) and article 14 (prohibiting discrimination) couldn’t be justified

Is the human rights act (HRA) entrenched?

No

Who ensures that draft legislation is compatible with the HRA?

Parliament’s Joint Committee on human rights

What happens is legislation is declared incompatible with the HRA?

Parliament are invited to reconsider the offending statue but the courts can’t strike down parliamentary statue

What precedent was established under the factortame case?

Allowed senior judges to suspend the actions of both parliament and the executive where either branch appeared to have breached EU law

How did leaving the EU reduce scope for judicial action?

As the UK is no longer subject to EU law

What does judicial review often require senior judges to do?

Clarify the legal meaning of a specific law regulation

What did the UK government agree with the court on the only legal way to hold a referendum on Scottish independence?

A deal between London and Edinburgh executives

What does ultra viris mean?

Beyond the authority

Ultra viris definition?

The process of judicial review can be used to determine whether or not a minister has acted beyond their authority

Derogation definition?

Process where a country is exempt from observing a law or regulation it has previously agreed to abide by