How Judges are Appointed
by Appointment to the House of Lords and Court of Appeal.
The appointment of judges to the court of appeal and the House of Lords is a matter of debate and subject to criticism for years by academic experts, legal profession societies, the public and the media.
As the court of appeal and the House of Lords are the supreme courts in deciding the liberty of people, size of the debate becomes greater and people asking more and more about the way our supreme judges are appointed.
Why they should be mainly or totally male when it relates to the House of Lords? Why the selection is secret and there is not a public voting for selecting higher judges? Who represents the female community in these higher institutions? What about the blacks, the Asians and the other minority ethnic groups who live on these Isles for years? What about the solicitors or even barristers who are not graduated from Oxford or Cambridge? Those questions and many other questions.
The government, from its side, also reviews the system and starts new projects and researches in order to find some answers for these questions. The Commission for Judicial Appointments (CJA) Suggests many radical plans for this purpose.
The question remains either the new proposals make any change to the system, and if they do, are they make great changes towards good in UK’s legal system?
This short essay will try to answer some of these questions.
English Legal System in Progress
In English legal system the three powers: executive, legislative and judicial, are separated from each other theoretically, but the position of the Lord Chancellor who has power over all the three parts, is a matter of debate and question.
The Lord Chancellor, according to the study of [Elliot& Quinn 2002, p.99] is:
The head of the whole judiciary…. currently Lord Irvine, who effectively appoints all the other judges…. He is usually a Cabinet Minister and speaker of the House of Lords.
According to the current System the Lord Chancellor’s department appoints all the judges, but the conditions for judges of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords are so strict that it is impossible for anyone who is not white, male, middle or upper class, elderly and Oxbridge graduate to enter these courts.
This matter is highly controversial, and many people nowadays are asking for a reform in the system and may be to find an alternative for the position of Lord Chancellor and the system of appointing the higher judges.
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Post Comments hayes
On June 25, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Hi Eaglehunter,
Fantastic article.
The lack of female representation in the higher echelons of the legal profession is ironic, in light of the number of companies successfully sued (by lawyers) for sexual inequality.
It will take at least another 20 years in the UK before the “jobs for the boys” reality disappears – or reduces to an acceptable level.
I have been involved in a civil law case for the past two years and have been amazed at the unprofessionalism,sheer incompetance, and financial greed shown by top drawer lawyers and barristers alike.
I have no idea how the legal system in the UK has such a good reputation, because it defies logic and is so corruply extortionate that justice does not come into it – the party with the deepest pockets will always win.
Sorry to rant –