Law Weblog

Role of Lord Chancellor to stay, House of Lords Appellate Committee to be revised sometime in the future

The role of the Lord Chancellor will be reformed rather than abolished. Lord Falconer wanted to axe the 1,400-year-old post but yesterday (3-12-04) he bowed to opposition from the House of Lords. It will not now be necessary to amend the many statutes that refer to the Lord Chancellor, the oldest office in the government apart from the crown. Debates on the Constitutional Reform Bill continue in the House of Lords on Tuesday. The Bill is intended to replace the House of Lords’ judicial functions with a Supreme Court and create a Judicial Appointments Commission, ending the Lord Chancellor’s role as head of the judiciary, but this may be some years away.