judiciary

• Superior judges

  These are higher level judges. These judges are justices of the supreme court, lords justices of appeal and high court judges also known as puisne judges
• Inferior judges

  Magistrates court - district judge (lowest level judge)

  Crown court - recorders, district judge and circuit judge

  County court - recorders, district judge and circuit judge
• Role of judges

  .The role of judges is to apply the law as stated by Parliament in an independent manner. Parliament is the supreme aw making body so courts cannot openly question the law, merely interpret it.

  .Judges preside over both civil and criminal cases. In criminal cases, the judge will pass the sentence and in most civil cases, the judge will decide the issue of liability and the amount of damages awarded

  .The establishment of the supreme court under the constitutional reform act 2005 means that the superior judges are completely separate from parliament.
• Tribunals court and enforcement act 2007.


  The aim of this act was to promote diversity in the judiciary. This has been done in 3 ways :

  1. widened the legal qualifications of judges from a solicitor and barrister to allowing legal executives, registered patents attorneys and trade mark attorneys which helps people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become judges
  2. Widened the way applicants can gain legal knowledge. Experience can come from teaching, practicing, arbitration/mediation services and giving legal advice.
  3. Experience has lowered from 7 to 5 years and higher posts from 10 to 7 years
• Constitution reform act 2005


  pre act - lord chancellor selected judges based on the opinions of existing judges. He would decide who to appoint and the person would be invited to be a judge. This process was seen as very secretive. The Lord Chancellor was a political appointment and so was not free from political influence.

  Post - recruitment is made by the judicial appointments commission. Judicial posts are now advertised and candidates apply. Appointments process is now completely separate from the political influence of the government.
• Judicial appointments commission

  .There are 25 members of the commission made up from judicial and non judicial members including the public.

  .Appointments are now made solely on merit and posts are widely advertised to encourage a wide range of candidates to apply.

  .Recommendations from the JAC are passed to the lord chief justice who will make his selection from the list of candidates

  .The king will then formally appoint judges
• Diversity

  21% of court of appeal judges are female

  28% of high court judges are female

  36% of judges are from non barrister background

  8% of judges identify as Black, Asian and ethnic minorities

  There are only 2 female justices of the supreme court.
• Judicial training

  Training is carried out by the judicial collage set up in 2011. There are three main elements to judicial training :

  1. Knowledge of substantive law, evidence and procedure
  2. The acquisition and improvement of judicial skills
  3. The social context within which judging occurs.
• Judicial training

  On first appointment, judges go through an induction programme, and will be assigned a mentor, usually an experienced judge.

  Judges are expected to participate in continuing professional development through the completion of seminars and e-learning which teach judges about developments in legislation and procedure
• Judicial independence

  .S.3 constitutional reform act 2005 guarantees judicial independence and states that this must be upheld at all times.

  .Judges are free from influence from the legislature so judges are not allowed to be MP's.

  .Judges should be free from political bias, but there are cases which show judges tend to support the government. This is seen in the GCHQ case whee the judge showed favour to a political party which led to the judge being influenced in his decision making.
• Judicial independence

  .Judges can declare UK legislation incompatible with the European convention on human rights which will enforce the government to change the law. Whilst judges must apply the law only, if they aren't happy with a law, they can ask Parliament to change it.
• Judicial independence

  .Judges have to be independent so it is important they have security of tenure (to remove a judge it would require a partition to be signed by both houses of parliament), which means they should not be at risk of removal just because the government may not agree with their decisions.

  .Judge Peter Bowers refused to jail a paedophile for accessing images of child abuse, saying he would 'have a hard time in prison'
• Dismissal and retirement

  .Judges usually retire at 70.

  .Judges can be removed from office by the judicial conduct investigations office, who deals with all issues of judicial discipline, if any allegations of misconduct are upheld.

  .Case - 'three judges were removed and a fourth resigned for viewing pornography at work', the guardian stated

  Inferior judges do not have the same security and tenure as superior judges, and the lord chancellor has the power to dismiss any inferior judge for incapacity or misbehaviour.