1. What is the distinctive feature of the UK Judiciary?
2. Who has the responsibility over the UK Judiciary? Who had it previously?
3. What issues can the Lord Chief Justice decide? Whose support does he have?
4. What is the role of the Judicial Executive Board and Judges’ Council?
5. What is the role of judges’ representative organizations?
The United Kingdom does not have a single body of law applicable throughout the realm. Scotland has its own distinctive system and courts; in Northern Ireland, certain spheres of law differ in substance from those operating in England and Wales.
The Judiciary of the United Kingdom is not a single body either. Each of the separate legal systems in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have their own judiciary.
There are various levels of judiciary in England and Wales — different types of courts have different styles of judges.
As a part of the constitutional changes of April 2006, the Lord Chief Justice is responsible for some 400 statutory functions, which were previously the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor. For example, the Lord Chief Justice now decides where judges sit, and the type of cases they hear. To do this, the Lord Chief Justice has support from his judicial colleagues, as well as from a small administrative staff.
An outline structure for the organisation of the judiciary has been created. This document provides greater detail about the way in which the changes set out in the Constitutional Reform Act impact on the judiciary.
The Lord Chief Justice has created a Judicial Executive Board to help provide judicial direction and he has also strengthened the existing Judges’ Council, which is representative of all levels of the judiciary.
Sometimes different levels of judges have their own representative organisations, for example the Association of Her Majesty's District Judges, or Council of Her Majesty's Circuit Judges. These groups represent the interests of judges from a particular level or jurisdiction.
Finally, judges also have access to administrative support within the court environment, whether this is their own allocated clerk, court staff, or legal advisers for magistrates.