The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but became the top judge as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which removed the judicial functions from the office of Lord Chancellor and altered the duties of the Lord Chief Justice and changed the relationship between the two offices. The Lord Chief Justice is also the presiding judge of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal.
The Lord Chief Justice's equivalent in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the post of Lord Justice-General in the High Court of Justiciary.
The current Lord Chief Justice is Lord Judge, who took over the role on 1 October 2008 following the promotion of Lord Phillips to the position of Senior Law Lord. In Lord Judge's case, Judge is his family's coincidental surname, not an affectation or title. He has announced he will retire at the end of September 2013, with a selection exercise to determine his successor set to begin "in early 2013".
Read more about Lord Chief Justice Of England And Wales: History, Lord Chief Justices of England, King's (Queen's) Bench, To 1875, Lord Chief Justices of England (later England and Wales) 1875–present
Famous quotes containing the words lord, chief, justice, england and/or wales:
“I am a cowboy in the boat of Ra. Lord of the lash,
the Loup Garou Kid. Half breed son of Pisces and
Aquarius. I hold the souls of men in my pot. I do
the dirty boogie with scorpions. I make the bulls
keep still and was the first swinger to grape the taste.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“The chief element in the art of statesmanship under modern conditions is the ability to elucidate the confused and clamorous interests which converge upon the seat of government. It is an ability to penetrate from the naïve self-interest of each group to its permanent and real interest.... Statesmanship ... consists in giving the people not what they want but what they will learn to want.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“You are all alike, you respectable people. You can’t tell me the bursting strain of a ten-inch gun, which is a very simple matter; but you all think you can tell me the bursting strain of a man under temptation. You daren’t handle high explosives; but you’re all ready to handle honesty and truth and justice and the whole duty of man, and kill one another at that game. What a country! What a world!”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.”
—Joseph Wood Krutch (1893–1970)
“I just come and talk to the plants, really—very important to talk to them, they respond I find.”
—Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948)