Jurisdiction
The Law Lords hear civil appeals from the following
sources:
1 The Court of Appeal,with the permission of the
Court of Appeal or the House of Lords.
2 The High Court,under the ‘leapfrog’ procedure
introduced by the Administration of Justice Act 1969.
This form of appeal goes straight to the House of Lords,
‘leapfrogging’ the Court of Appeal. The trial judge must
certify that the case is suitable for an appeal direct to the
House of Lords because it involves a point of law of
general public importance relating wholly or mainly to a
statute or statutory instrument (often concerned with
taxation); the House must grant leave to appeal and the
parties must consent.
Other important courts
Court of Justice of the European
Community
On joining the European Community in 1973, the United
Kingdom agreed to accept the rulings of the European
Court of Justice in matters of European law (see further
Chapter 2 ). The House of Lords continues to be the
final court of appeal in respect of purely domestic law,
but, where a dispute has a European element, any
English court or tribunal may (and in some cases must)
seek the opinion of the European Court in Luxembourg
on the point of European law in question.
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is not a
formal part of our court structure, yet it has had a con-
siderable influence on the development of English law.
The jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee covers three
main areas.
1 Final Court of Appeal for crown dependencies and
certain Commonwealth countries.The Committee
advises the Queen on criminal and civil appeals from the
Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, British Colonies and
Protectorates and from certain independent Common-
wealth countries. The Committee’s decisions are very
influential because cases are usually heard by Law Lords
with the addition of senior Commonwealth judges, where
appropriate.
2 Devolution references from courts in Scotland,
Northern Ireland or England and Wales or Law Officers
concerning the competence of devolved administrations
under the devolution legislation.
3 Various domestic matters,e.g. pastoral schemes of
the Church of England Commissioners, appeals from
the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of
Veterinary Surgeons.
Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the new
Supreme Court will take over the devolution jurisdic-
tion of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; the
Commonwealth jurisdiction will not be changed.European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights, which sits at
Strasbourg, deals with claims that the European Con-
vention on Human Rights has been breached. Cases may
be brought either by individuals, provided that the re-
levant state has accepted the right to bring an individual
petition, or by one state against another.
The Court of Human Rights comprises 44 judges, a
number equal to the number of states which have rati-
fied the Convention. Cases are usually heard by seven
judges sitting together.
The decisions of the court are binding on govern-
ments in international law but do not bind UK courts.
However, UK courts must take the judgments of the
Court of Human Rights into account when deciding a
question in relation to a Convention right, following the
incorporation of the European Convention on Human
Rights into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.Tribunals
The work of the ordinary courts is supplemented by
a large number of tribunals set up by Act of Parliament
to hear and decide upon disputes in specialised areas. As
the lives of ordinary people have been affected more and
more by the activities of government, particularly since
the advent of the welfare state, so there has been a con-
siderable growth in the number and jurisdiction of
administrative tribunals.Part 1Introduction to law