Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and is expected to begin operation in October 2009 when refurbished premises in Parliament Square are ready. When this happens, the centuries-old link between the top-level court and Parliament will be severed as members of the Supreme Court will be barred from taking part in parliamentary business such as chairing committees and occasionally speaking on the floor of the House of Lords 9.

The Court which will function as the highest court in the UK, on the coming into effect of the relevant provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, taking over from the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It will comprise a President, Deputy President, and ten Justices of the Supreme Court. Initially, the exiting Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will fill the positions. In any proceedings, the Court will normally be properly constituted if it consists of an uneven number of judges and at least three judges6.

Replacements

It replaces the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court for civil and criminal appeals from the courts in England and Wales and Northern Ireland and for civil (but not criminal) appeals from Scotland. The recent court will also hear appeals on 'devolution issues' (disputes about the power of the devolved executive and legislative bodies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) in place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The creation of the recent court was controversial. Proponents of reform argued that, in an era of human rights and greater judicial involvement in adjudication on government policy and compliance of legislation with rights in the European Convention of Human Rights, it was increasingly anomalous for the UK's highest court to have the formal status of a committee of the legislature. Opponents rejected the notion that any constitutional principle of separation of powers applied and argued that the existing arrangements enjoyed a high reputation at a modest cost4.

The senior judge is the President of the Supreme Court, and there are eleven other permanent members of the court known as Justices of the Supreme Court. The initial members of the new court will be the existing Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the law lords). Senior judges from courts of England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland and retired Supreme Court judges may also sit as 'acting judges'. Hearings will take place before a panel of five justice or occasionally more3.

Function of Supreme Court

The function of the Supreme Court is to determine appeals on questions of law that have general public importance. Like its predecessors, the Court is expected to receive several hundred petitions for leave to appeal each year, but to select only fifty to seventy for a full hearing. The selection is not primarily concerned with whether there has been an error or injustice by the court below but with the strategic development of the ...