Separating Legislature and Judiciary - Creating a Supreme Court for the UK

Since 1876, the House of Lords has been the highest court in the land. The thirteen Law Lords who currently form the judicial committee of the House of Lords (known as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary) are the most senior judges in the judicial hierarchy. They hear appeals on points of law from the Court of Appeal (whose judges are known as Lords Justices of Appeal) and their decisions are binding on all the lower courts, helping to build up and develop the law on which our democracy is based.

It is an axiom of democracy that the executive that creates the law should be separate from the judiciary which interprets it. This does not happen in Russia or Iran, where the government exercises control over the people not only by making the laws but also frequently interfering in the decisions of the courts to ensure that the law is interpreted and enforced according to government policy. It has, therefore, long been regarded as a constitutional anomaly that our House of Lords, which as the Upper House of Parliament is part of the legislature and is involved in creating the law, should also be involved in applying and interpreting it as the supreme court of appeal.

This government has brought in a number of reforms to the legal system, many of which have been controversial (including the creation of the Ministry of Justice, which was partly designed to remove another constitutional anomaly). Its latest and most fundamental reform is the creation of the Supreme Court to take the place of the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal, and to underline the separation of powers by moving it out of the Houses of Parliament and into its own new building.

The building chosen for the new Supreme Court is the old Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square, opposite the Palace of Westminster - a splendidly imposing but slightly run-down building which has been completely refurbished (at a cost to the taxpayer of some £6 million). The Guildhall’s postal address has previously been in Little George Street but there was a feeling that this diminutive name failed to reflect the status of the new court and so the court’s address will now, rightly, be on Parliament Square instead. On 30th July, the Law Lords delivered their final judgement in the House of Lords after 133 years. They have departed for their summer break for the last time and will return in October as Supreme Court Justices of the newly opened Supreme Court.

The function of the court will be largely unchanged, but this is more than just a symbolic move. The Supreme Court Justices will still be life peers in the House of Lords but will be disqualified from voting in the Upper House or sitting on any parliamentary committee. The new Supreme Court will also house the judicial committee of the Privy Council, which also moves to the Middlesex Guildhall from its present home in the Privy Council Chamber in Downing Street but will remain a separate entity and independent from the Supreme Court.

In terms of importance, the Court will be the last and highest port of call for litigants in the UK – after that, it’s the European Court of Justice (if your case meets the Court’s very restricted criteria).

Ironically for solicitors like me, a minor side-effect of the reform is that we will cease to be Solicitors of the Supreme Court (our formal title) and will become instead Solicitors of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. From supremacy to seniority – a bit of a come-down, but that’s life!

To contact Raworths, telephone 01423 566666 or visit our offices at Eton House, 89 Station Parade, Harrogate HG1 1HF. Or visit our website, or email ralph.court@raworths.co.uk. Ralph Court is a partner and head of the commercial litigation unit at Raworths LLP.