Date:  4 December 2006

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE HOUSE OF LORDS, LEGALLY SPEAKING?

We all know that the House of Lords is the second  house or debating chamber of our parliament and is also the final court of appeal on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases  -  but what is the connection between the two? 

Legal appeals to the House are heard only by very senior professional judges who have usually been promoted from the English/Welsh Court of Appeal or the equivalent in Northern Ireland/Scotland. Sometimes but rarely these days the Lord Chief Justice or the Master of the Rolls  will also sit in cases of particular interest to them.

The judges are known formally as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, but more colloquially as law lords, or just “the lords”. They sit as, what is called, an appellate committee. There are 12 of them at the moment, including Baroness Hale, the first woman to be appointed (in 2004).

Appeals are usually heard by five of them sitting together (or more if the case is extremely important).  Usually their decisions are unanimous, but it is not unknown for some decisions to be reached on  a 3:2 basis. Paradoxically this means that an important point of law can be decided by 3 judges contrary to the views of up to 6 other senior judges - if you take the views of the dissenting law lords, the 3 Court of Appeal judges and the original High Court judge into account!

Cases are usually heard and argued in Committee Room 1 in the Houses of Parliament  but after deliberating, the lords will read out their judgements – known as opinions or speeches -  in the main debating chamber of the House of Lords itself

The law lords are supposed to be apolitical, but occasionally one of them will attend a full sitting of the House of Lords and will speak in a political debate -  inevitably involving some aspect of  the legal or penal systems.

Moves are afoot for the court to sit in a refurbished building away from parliament. This coincides with the view of many, including government, that it is desirable for the House of Lords as a court, to be separate constitutionally as well as physically from the legislature. Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 the court will be known as the UK Supreme Court. These changes are expected in October 2008.