Judicial Independence in the Uk

An Article Submitted to Prof. Li Zhang for the Course of Academic Writing in English

Judicial Independence in United Kingdom:

The Establishment of the Supreme Court

Student Name: 杭西檬

                    Student ID: 5121419031

                    Major: English (International Legal Affairs)

                    Supervisor: Prof. Li Zhang

                    Date: 2015.12.29

ABSTRACT

Judicial independence is the concept that the Judiciary needs to be kept away from the other branches of government. The doctrine of the "separation of powers" has been widely practiced that the state is divided into the separate and distinct branches (Executive, Legislature and Judiciary). However, this doctrine was not carried out thoroughly in the United Kingdom: although, according to the provision, the members of the Executive (the Government) cannot at the same time be the members of the Legislature (Parliament), in the office of the Lord Chancellor, the three branches were fused. Analyses of the article written by Lorne Neudorf’s The Supreme Court and the New Judicial Independence indicate that the establishment of the Supreme Court imported a new and much broader conception of judicial independence into the constitutional landscape, which protects the rule of law from direct influence by the Executive and Legislature. The new Supreme Court now interacts with the other branches as a distinct institution instead of working alongside them as a component of the Government and Parliament. This article then argues the value of the judicial activism and transparency of the Court.

KEY WORDS: judicial independence, separation of powers, the Supreme Court

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. The Newly-built Supreme Court

    2.1 The establishment of Supreme Court

    2.2 The Purpose of the Supreme Court

1. Judicial Activism

    3.1 Definition of Judicial Activism Summary

    3.2 Constraints of Judicial Activism

1. Judicial Transparency

    4.1 Functions of Judicial Transparency

 4.2 Constraints of Judicial Transparency

1. Conclusion

Reference

About the author

1. Introduction

    Judicial independence is generally understood as requiring that judges be separate from political life. Most constitutional theories require that the judiciary is separate from and independent of the Government and Parliament, in order to ensure the rule of law, in other words, to ensure that the law is enforced impartially and consistently no matter who is in power, and without undue influence from any other source.