Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | |
---|---|
Style | The Right Honourable Lord or Lady |
Appointer | The Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister following the Lord Chancellor's approval of a recommendation |
Term length | Justices are required to retire on becoming 75 years old;[nb 1] may be removed on the address of both Houses of Parliament |
Formation | 1 October 2009 |
Salary | £226,193[1] |
Website | http://www.supremecourt.uk/ |
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than the president and the deputy president of the court.[2] The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases from the jurisdictions of England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Judges are appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the prime minister, who receives recommendations from a selection commission.[3][4]
The number of judges is set by section 23(2) of the
Qualification
The
Appointment
Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the King by the issue of letters patent,[8][9] on the advice of the Prime Minister, to whom a name is recommended by a special selection commission. The Prime Minister is required by the Constitutional Reform Act to recommend this name to the King and not permitted to nominate anyone else.[10]
Selection commission
The selection commission is made up of the President of the Court, another senior UK judge (not a Supreme Court Justice), and a member each from the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission. By law, at least one of these cannot be a lawyer.[11][12] Should the President's place on the commission be unfilled, that place is to be taken by the next most senior judge of the court, either the Deputy President or, if they are also vacant, the most senior Justice.[13][14] However, there is a similar but separate commission to appoint the next President, which is chaired by one of the non-lawyer members and features another Supreme Court Justice in the place of the President. Both of these commissions are convened by the Lord Chancellor.[12]
Selection procedure
Once the commission is formed, there are a number of people it is required to consult. The first group is a set of "senior judges" defined by the Act who do not wish to be considered for nomination.
In the event that no judge from one of the UK's three jurisdictions has been consulted (e.g. if the Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk, the two most senior judges in Scotland, both wish to be considered for appointment, they will both be excluded from the consultation), the commission must consult the most senior judge in that jurisdiction who is not a member of the commission and does not wish to be considered for appointment.
The selection must be made on merit, in accordance with the qualification criteria of section 25 of the Act (above), of someone not a member of the commission, ensuring that the judges will have between them knowledge and experience of all three of the UK's distinct legal systems, having regard to any guidance given by the Lord Chancellor, and of one person only.[18]
Lord Chancellor's role
Once the commission has selected a nomination to make, this is to be provided in a report to the Lord Chancellor,[19] who is then required to consult the judges and politicians already consulted by the commission before deciding whether to recommend (in the Act, "notify") a name to the Prime Minister, who in turn advises the King to make the appointment. The Act provides for up to three stages in the Lord Chancellor's consideration of whether to do so:
- When the selection is first put forward, the Lord Chancellor is entitled to accept the nomination, to reject it, or to ask the commission to reconsider.
- If the nomination was rejected in Stage One, the commission must put forward a new name for Stage Two. The Lord Chancellor must either accept or ask the commission to reconsider. If instead the Lord Chancellor asked for reconsideration at Stage One, the commission may either put forward the same name or a new one. In either case, the Lord Chancellor must either accept or reject the name. In other words, the Lord Chancellor has one opportunity to reject and one to ask for reconsideration.
- At Stage Three (i.e. when the Lord Chancellor has both rejected and asked once for reconsideration), the name put forward by the commission must be accepted and forwarded to the Prime Minister, with one caveat: in the event the commission was asked to reconsider a name and then forwarded a new name, the Lord Chancellor may choose to accept the earlier name.[20]
Original judges
The Supreme Court was established on 1 October 2009. It assumed the former
The Senior Law Lord on 1 October 2009, The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, became the Court's first President,[24] and the former Second Senior Law Lord, The Lord Hope of Craighead, the first Deputy President. The Court originally had one female Justice, The Baroness Hale of Richmond; two Scottish Justices, The Lord Hope of Craighead and The Lord Rodger of Earlsferry; and one Northern Irish Justice, The Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore.
Of the original Justices, The Lord Saville of Newdigate was the first to retire, on 30 September 2010, and The Lord Rodger of Earlsferry was the first to die in office, on 26 June 2011. Lord Dyson stood down to become Master of the Rolls on 1 October 2012, the first time a Justice had left the Court to take up another judicial office. The last of the original Justices to retire was The Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore on 30 September 2020.
List
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Current judges
The most recent to join the court is
Portrait | Name | Born | Alma mater | Invested | Mandatory retirement |
Prior senior judicial roles |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Lord Reed of Allermuir (President) |
7 September 1956 (age 67) |
6 February 2012 | 7 September 2031 | Senator of the College of Justice:
| ||
Lord Hodge (Deputy President) |
19 May 1953 (age 70) |
University of Edinburgh School of Law
|
1 October 2013 | 19 May 2028 | Senator of the College of Justice:
| |
Lord Lloyd-Jones | 13 January 1952 (age 72) |
Downing College, Cambridge | 2 October 2017 | 13 January 2027 | QBD (2005–2012)
| |
Lord Briggs of Westbourne |
23 December 1954 (age 69) |
Magdalen College, Oxford | 2 October 2017 | 23 December 2029 | CD (2006–2013)
| |
Lord Sales | 11 February 1962 (age 62) |
Churchill College, Cambridge Worcester College, Oxford |
11 January 2019 | 11 February 2037 | CD (2008–2014)
| |
Lord Hamblen of Kersey |
23 September 1957 (age 66) |
St John's College, Oxford Harvard Law School |
13 January 2020 | 23 September 2032 | QBD (2008–2016)
| |
Lord Leggatt | 12 November 1957 (age 66) |
King's College, Cambridge Harvard University City Law School |
21 April 2020 | 12 November 2032 | QBD (2012–2018)
| |
Lord Burrows | 17 April 1957 (age 66) |
Brasenose College, Oxford Harvard Law School |
2 June 2020 | 17 April 2032 | None: first Justice to be appointed directly from academia[25] | |
Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare |
28 December 1954 (age 69) |
University of Manchester | 1 October 2020 | 28 December 2029 | Lord Justice of Appeal (NI) (2017–2020) Justice of the High Court (NI) (2007–2017) | |
Lady Rose of Colmworth |
13 April 1960 (age 64) |
Newnham College, Cambridge Brasenose College, Oxford |
13 April 2021 | 13 April 2035 | CD (2013–2019)
| |
Lord Richards of Camberwell |
9 June 1951 (age 72) |
Trinity College, Cambridge | 3 October 2022 | 9 June 2026 | CD (2003–2015)
| |
Lady Simler | 17 September 1963 (age 60) |
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University of Amsterdam |
14 September 2023 | 17 September 2038 | QBD (2013–2019)
|
Acting judges and supplementary panel
Under section 38 of the Constitutional Reform Act, the
The second category of additional judges is the supplementary panel: approved Supreme Court justices and territorial judges who have retired from judicial service within the past five years and are younger than 75.
As of 2023 the supplementary panel consists of:[28]
- Lady Black of Derwent (former Justice of the Supreme Court)
- The Lord Burnett of Maldon (former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales)
- Lord Kitchin (former Justice of the Supreme Court)
- Sir Declan Morgan (former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland)
Salary
As of 1 October 2019, Justices of the Supreme Court, including the
Style and address
Following a
Dress
On ceremonial occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament, the ceremony at Westminster Abbey to mark the beginning of the judicial year, and at the swearing in of a new member of the Court, the Justices wear ceremonial robes of black silk damask trimmed with gold lace and frogs, in the same pattern as the Lord Chancellor's state robes. The robe has no train, and the flap collar and shoulder caps bear the Supreme Court insignia.
The Justices do not wear wigs or
On other occasions, the Justices wear day dress. This follows the convention adopted by the
See also
- Senator of the College of Justice
- Lord Justice of Appeal
- List of Lords Justices of Appeal
- High Court judge (England and Wales)
- List of High Court judges of England and Wales
References
- ^ a b c "Judicial salaries from 1 October 2019" (PDF). Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, s.23(6)
- ^ a b c d "Warrants Under the Royal Sign Manual". The London Gazette. No. 59746. 1 April 2011. pp. 6177–6178.
- ^ "Press release: Courtesy titles for Justices of the Supreme Court" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ "Press release: Courtesy titles for Justices of the Supreme Court" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 25(1)(a)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 25(1)(b)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 23(2)
- ^ @CrownOffFOIDs (17 August 2022). "Constitutional Reform Act" (Tweet). Retrieved 17 August 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, sections 26(2)&(3)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, schedule 8 para 1(1)
- ^ a b "Supreme Court selection process for President and Justices". The Supreme Court. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, schedule 8 para 2
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, schedule 8 para 3
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 27(2)(a)
- ^ a b Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 27(3)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 27(2)(b)-(e)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 27(5)-(10)
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 27A and 27B.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 29.
- ^ Constitutional Reform Act 2005, section 24(a)
- ^ Gibb, Frances (23 July 2009). "Lord Neuberger named Master of the Rolls". The Times. London. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ "Lord Clarke appointed Justice of the UK Supreme Court". 10 Downing Street. 20 April 2009. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ "Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers appointed as senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary". 10 Downing Street. 1 April 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- ^ Court, The Supreme. "Swearing-in of The Right Honourable Professor Burrows QC as Justice of the Supreme Court". The Supreme Court. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
- ^ "Press Summary: R (Noone) v HMP Drake Hall" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ "Press Summary: Norris v USA" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ "Supplementary List". The Supreme Court. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
- ^ "Press release: Courtesy titles for Justices of the Supreme Court" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ "The Supreme Court". Hand & Lock. 2 October 2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
Notes
- ^ The Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 imposed a mandatory retirement age of 70 for all judges first appointed to the judiciary after 1995. The Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 raised this age to 75.