1. The
Lord Chancellor
The
Speaker of the House of Lords is the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, who
is Keeper of the Great Seal. He may not leave the country without first
notifying the Queen in order that Commissioners may be appointed to affix the
Great Seal in his absence. He has been called the Keeper of the. Queen's
Conscience since the time of Elizabeth I. The Lords Chancellor declares that
the office of Lord Chancellor is tenable by an adherent to the Roman Catholic
faith.
The
Lord Chancellor presides over the House from "the Woolsack," a seat
traditionally stuffed with wool, the emblem of England's medieval prosperity.
Because
the Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Crown and no elected, the House of Lords
never delegated to him authority t keep order, to control the order of speeches
or to rebuke recalcitrant members.
The
Lord Chancellor is the senior legal and constitutional adviser of the
government, a Minister of the Crown and almost invariably a member of the Cabinet.
The
Lord Chancellor plays the leading part in the appointment, or recommending the
appointment of judges, magistrates and legally qualified chairmen of statutory
tribunals in England.
2. Prime
responsibility
The
Lord Chancellor has the prime responsibility under the Law Commissions Act 1965
for keeping law reform and the revision of statute law under constant review,
especially by appointing and considering the reports of the law Commission. It
was after the Courts Act 1971 came into force that the Lord Chancellor and his
department assumed one of' its major roles and responsibilities. All higher
courts and, the county courts in England and Wales are directly administered by
the Lord Chancellor's Department through the Courts Service. In 1991
responsibility for magistrates' courts was also transferred to him. The Freedom
of Information Act 2000 requires the Lord Chancellor to issue a code of
practice setting out practices which he considers public authorities should
follow in relation to the keeping, management and destruction of their records.
3.
The Head of the judiciary
The
Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, presiding
over the House of Lords sitting as the final court of appeal (the Appellate
Committee), and over the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when he is
present. It is the Lord Chancellor who determines the composition of the
relevant Committee, but in practice this is delegated to the senior Law Lord.
4. The
President of the Supreme Court
The
Lord Chancellor is also President of the Supreme Court, an ex-officio judge of
the Court of Appeal and President of the Chancery Division of the High Court.
He does not in practice sit in these latte courts, the, senior judge of the
Chancery Division now being called Vice-Chancellor; but he is responsible for
regulating their business through the Rule Committee. Unlike other senior
judges, the Lord Chancellor does not have security of tenure, nor does he
necessarily have previous judicial experience before this appointment.
5. The
chairman of the judicial Committee
Lord
Chancellor is also the chairman of the judicial Committee and the legal adviser
to the crown. As such he enjoys the following powers:
i. The
judges of the High Courts are appointed by the Crown on his recommendation.
ii. He
appoints the judges of the county Courts and also has the responsibility for
the appointment of Justice of Peace.
iii.
He can remove the judges of the County Courts and justice of Peace.
iv. He
holds the great seal of the Realm which he affixes on behalf of the Crown on
all agreements, declarations and treaties.
v. He
presides over the House when it sits and the Highest Court of Appeal.
vi. He
is the chairman of the Council.
vii.
He controls and supervises the Organization of judiciary under the Act of 1925.
viii.
He reads over the address of the crown before the House.
ix. The
Lord Chancellor gets £ 10,000 a year as his salary and on retirement gets a
pension of £ 5.000 per annum.
0 comments:
Post a Comment