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Relations Between Institutions
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Detailed, thorough notes on Relations Between Institutions based on the suggested Edexcel A-Level textbook
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Relations Between InstitutionsDefinitions:
Supreme Court: the highest court in the UK political system
Judicial neutrality: the principle that judges should not be influenced by their personal political opinions
and should remain outside party politics
Judicial independence:the principle that judges should not be influenced by other branches of
government, particularly the executive
Judicial review: the power of the judiciary to review, and sometimes reverse, actions by other branches
of government that breach the law, or that are incompatible with the Human Rights Act
Ultra vines: literally 'beyond the powers'; an action that is taken without legal authority
Elective dictatorship: a government that dominates parliament, usually due to a large majority, and
therefore has few limits on its power
European Union: an association of 28 states, originally founded as the EEC in 1957, which has evolved
into a political and economic union
Four freedoms: the principle of free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the EU's
single market
Legal sovereignty: the right to ultimate legal authority in a political system; in the UK, this belongs to
parliament
Political sovereignty: the ultimate political power; in the UK's democracy, the electorate holds this
power, which is delegates to parliament
The Supreme Court and the legislative and policy-making processes
Government consists of the executive (takes and implements decisions on policy), legislature (makes laws) and
judiciary (judges interpret the law thought rulings made in court cases). The UK has moved towards a greater
separation of powers in recent years. The establishment of the Supreme Court brought to an end the situation in
which the highest court was located within the House of Lords.
The Supreme Court was opened on 1 October 2009. The Court was designed to end the fusion of powers at the
highest level of the UK judiciary. The reform was to create greater transparency, and to bring the UK into line with
most other Western countries, by establishing that the country's highest court was clearly independent of
parliament. The lord chancellor used to be the chairman of sittings in the House of Lords and be the head of the
judiciary (appointing other judges) but the Constitutional Reform Act removed these responsibilities from them.
The Lords is now chaired by the lord speaker, chosen by their fellow peers, and judges are selected by an
independent Judicial Appointments Commission.
The UK does not have a single unified legal system. The Supreme Court is the only UK wide court and it acts as a
final court of appeal for rulings made by the lower courts; it is the final court of appeal for criminal cases in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and for civil cases across the whole of the UK. The Supreme Court also
hears appeal on arguable points of law were matters of wider public and constitutional importance are involved.
The Court has responsibility to interpret law passed by the EU (until the UK leaves) and makes rulings on cases
where the devolved authorities may not have acted within their powers (e.g. In July 2016, The Supreme Court
overruled the Scottish government's scheme to introduce the 'named person' service (to appoint state guardians
to be responsible for the well-being of children; it ruled that the legislation was in conflict with Article 8 in HRA
because it would allow public bodies to share personal information without consent).
, (Magistrates' court + Tribunal Crown Court + County Court The High Court The Court of Appeal (Criminal
Division and Civil Division) The UK Supreme Court)
The Supreme Court consists of 12 members, but cases are always heard by an odd number of justices (mostly 5 or
9, depending on the importance) so that a majority number can be heard. 11 took part in the 2016-7 review on
the High Court ruling that parliament rather than the government should initiate the UK's exit from the EU.
The most senior figure is designated as president. There is only one female justice, Lady Hale, and The Times
called the judiciary 'pale, male and stale' in 2011. Whilst they are known as Lord and Lady, members of the
Supreme Court only sit in the House of Lords when their term of office has come to an end. Supreme Court
justices will usually have served as a senior judge for two years, or been a qualified lawyer for at least 15 years.
When a vacancy occurs, nominations are made by an independent five-member Selection Commission. The lord
chancellor (/justice secretary) either confirms or rejects the person put forward, although they cannot reject
names repeatedly, The appointment is confirmed by the prime minister and then by the monarch.
The judicial system in the UK rests on two key principles: judicial neutrality and judicial independence. Judicial
neutrality is the expectation that judges will exercise their functions without personal bias. The code of conduct
states ways in which impartiality is to be safeguarded; for examples, judges must refuse to sit in a case where
there may be conflicts of interest, and judges must avoid political activities. The Supreme Court is more
transparent in explaining its rulings than its predecessors; its website carries full details of its decisions, and the
reasoning behind them, allowing for greater public scrutiny.
The narrowness of the Supreme Court's composition in terms of gender, social and education background is a real
concern; it contains a disproportionate number of white, privately educated males. The fact that it has only one
female member was significant in the case of Rodmacher v Granatino (a case involving a pre-nuptial agreement
between marriage partners). All but Lady Hale upheld the principle that claims made in the event of a divorce
should be limited. She gave as her reason the likelihood that the vast majority of people who would lose out as a
result of this precedent would be women.
Judicial independence is the principle that judges must be free from political interference; this is vital because
they may be called on to administer justice in cases where these is a conflict between the state and an individual
citizen. People must know they will receive impartial justice. The UK has in-built guarantees of independence like
terms of employment (judges cannot be removed from office unless they break the law or reach an official age of
retirement; judges are also immune from legal action arising from any comments they may make on cases in
court), pay (judges' salaries are paid from an independent budget, without the possibility of manipulation) and
appointment (the Judicial Appointments Commission and the Selection commission for the Supreme Court are
transparent in their procedure and free from political intervention). The Supreme Court is physically separate
from parliament as well.
The Supreme Court is independent of government, however, some concerns were raised in 2011 by Lord Phillips
(first president) on the subject of funding; spending cuts were imposed on the court system as part of the
coalition government's strategy to eliminate the budget deficit. Lord Phillips argued that the independence of the
Court was at risk unless it come be allocated pre-set, ring-fenced funding. Kenneth Clarke (justice secretary at the
time) dismissed this argument and insisted that the Supreme Court was independent of political interference and
that the government accepted it judgements, and could not be uniquely permitted to set its own budget.
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