The Supreme Court
The new Supreme Court is scheduled to be open for business in October 2009.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 made provision for the creation of a new Supreme Court for the United Kingdom. There have, in recent years, been mounting calls for the creation of a new free standing Supreme Court separating the highest appeal court from the second house of Parliament, and removing the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary from the legislature. On 12 June 2003 the Government announced its intention to do so.
At present the most senior judges, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, or Law Lords as they are often called, sit in the House of Lords. There are twelve of them. The House is the highest court in the land - the supreme court of appeal. It acts as the final court on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its decisions bind all courts below.
As members of the House of Lords, this means that they not only sit judicially, but are also able to become involved in the debate and subsequent enactment of Government legislation (although, in practice, they rarely do so). Creating a new Supreme Court will mean that the most senior judges will be entirely separate from the Parliamentary process.
It is important to be aware that the new Supreme Court will be a United Kingdom body legally separate from the England and Wales Courts since it will also be the Supreme Court of both Scotland and Northern Ireland. As such it falls outside of the remit of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales in his role as head of the judiciary of England and Wales.
The new Supreme Court is scheduled to be open for business in October 2009. In the meantime, any queries should be addressed to the Judicial Secretariat at the House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW.
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about_judiciary/judges_and_the_constitution/supreme_court/index.htm
