The Independent Judiciary in the United Kingdom

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The Independent Judiciary in the United Kingdom

Q. Is there an independent judiciary in the United Kingdom? What

obstacles, if any, hinder this independence?

Although judges in the English Legal System are not part of the law

making process, and full time judges are not allowed to be members of

the House of Commons, they are still thought to be independent in a

number of ways, as an independent judiciary plays an important role in

protecting the liberty of an individual from abuse of power by the

executive.

There is flexibility in the law for part time judges and they are

allowed to be members of the Parliament. Judges can be members of the

House of Lords in its legislative function, and can take part in

debates on new laws. These Law Lords can now participate in

controversial political debates which they were previously not allowed

to do. An area where Law Lords participated was in government policies

on sentencing, where Lord Taylor criticized minimum sentences.

Judges play a role in law making through the doctrine of judicial

precedent. There have been cases in which judges have refused to

change past precedent saying that it is the job of the Parliament to

make amendments to law and not of the judges. An example of such a

case is C v DPP (1994) regarding the criminal responsibility of

children.

As superior judges cannot be dismissed by the Government, they are

truly independent of it and can make decisions that cannot be changed.

However, the appointment of judges is not independent from the

executive. The Lord Chancellor is a member of all three arms of the

state. The Prime Minister is responsible for the nomination of senior

judges, but the appointment of judges at all levels is usually by the

Lord Chancellor. Since 1998, the Lord Chancellor listens to all

complaints against judges. According to the statistics, there have

been 23 cases where he has either written to the judges directly or

referred them to the concerned officers. Thus the judges have become

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