Judiciary Summary

Firstly the judiciary is basically judges in England and Wales. 

Role

• Overseeing the conduct and procedures of trials
• Acting as legal experts on points of law
• Criminal cases – summing up, informing the duty of the relevant law, delivering sentence on a guilty verdict
• Civil cases – deciding the facts of the case, decide verdict where there is no jury, deciding the remedy for the injured party
• Judicial Review – Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court
  • Examines the legality of a decision made by the Government, a court, a public organisation, organisations such as the Football Association
  • Can overrule the earlier decision if it finds that:
    • It involved an error of law
    • Was so unreasonable that no authority would normally have made it
    • Goes against natural justice

Selection and Appointment

• Due to the vast expansion of the judiciary in recent decades it has been forced to publicise its practices and pressurised to increase openness in the way judges are selected. This pressure and the need to ensure a sufficiently diverse background of judges in the light of its increasing political power has led to the Lord Chancellor’s Department introducing a range of reforms to the appointment process.

  • Lord Chancellor has a crucial role
  • SUPERIOR JUDGES (High Court+) – appointed by the Lord Chancellor’s Department, may involve the ‘old boys’ network’ and may mean the process is corrupt
  • INFERIOR JUDGES (Below High Court) – appointment process changed by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 – posts are now advertised and potential candidates apply for interview. The Lord Chancellor has the final…