Constitutional Reform Act 2005 - Changes Resulting From The Act

Changes Resulting From The Act

The act contains provisions which reform several institutions of the United Kingdom. The document is divided into three parts: the first concerns the reform of the office of Lord Chancellor, the second is about the new Supreme Court, and the third regulates the appointment of judges.

The establishment of a new Supreme Court is the main subject of the act and it had consequences for the House of Lords and the office of Lord Chancellor. The sections contained in Part 3 prescribe that the Supreme Court will be composed of 12 judges (s. 23) and that the first judges will be the current twelve Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (s. 24). The following sections (ss. 26-31) set out the rules for the appointment of future members of the Court. A selection commission consisting of the President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court (schedule 8) will propose one name to the Lord Chancellor who can reject that name only one time. Sections 32 to 37 are entitled Terms of Appointment and deal with issues such as tenure, salaries and allowances, resignation and retirement, and pensions. Section 40 additionally sets out that the new Court will assume the jurisdiction of the House of Lords and the jurisdiction in matters of devolution of the Privy Council.

The following sections deal with practical matters such as procedures, staff, and resources of the new Court and the fees of the judges. The Chief Executive of the Supreme Court must prepare an annual report on the work and it must be presented to both Houses of Parliament (s. 51).

In the third part of the act there are provisions in regard to the appointment of judges. In 1991 the Law Society had criticized the old system (the Queen appointing judges on the advice of the Lord Chancellor), emphasizing its defects and recommending the establishment of an independent body responsible for appointing judges. The Constitutional Reform Act realized the hopes of the Law Society. Section 61 prescribes the creation of a Judicial Appointments Commission, which is now responsible for the appointment of judges for English and Welsh courts. The following sections regulate the structure and the procedures of the Commission.

Although the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords is abolished, the currently serving Law Lords keep their judicial role in the new Supreme Court. Newly appointed members of the Court will not take the peerage and will be called Justices of the Supreme Court. The Lord Chief Justice replaces the Lord Chancellor as head of the English judiciary.

The new Supreme Court sits in a separate building from the Houses of Parliament where the House of Lords formerly performed its judicial functions. After a lengthy survey of suitable sites, including Somerset House, it was decided that the location for the new court would be Middlesex Guildhall, in Parliament Square, Westminster, which was formerly a Crown court building. Lord Foster was chosen to make the necessary alterations. The building reopened as the Supreme Court on 1 October 2009.