Think the UK judiciary is boring?  Think again

The judiciary is easily the least favoured topic area for students tackling the government of the UK modules. Memory has it that the number of candidates who attempted to answer a question on this topic on a paper for one of the major examination boards could be counted on one hand. Partly this is because some centres have given up teaching it. I’ve gone on record in this forum previously in saying that I think this is a shame. Firstly, the topic is anything but dry. Judges have said some highly controversial things. Heard the one about the judge who said that immigrants might not be suitable jurors? Secondly, British judges have been hitting the headlines more in recent years in clashing with the executive than has ever been the case. This has largely been brought about by the massive increase in judicial review and the Human Rights Act.

It seemed to me that as successive shadow and home secretaries had moved the law and order agenda rightwards, judges were no longer seen as bastions as conservatism and had now become voices of common sense. Evidence of this can be seen in the decision for instance to declare Michael Howard’s lengthening of the sentences for the James Bulger killers as ultra vires. More recently the Law Lords declared indefinite detention of foreign nationals at Belmarsh incompatible with the Human Rights Act. Lord Justice Hoffman took a large step into the political arena on this one by suggesting that the government’s response to terrorism was a greater threat to the security of the nation than terrorism itself. So judges have become a bulwark of liberty?

Not exactly. The decision this week to deport Abu Qatada to a country which conducts torture was a surprising one. They have sided with the government on this and outraged human rights groups. Were it not for the current economic and banking crisis (I use the singular here since they are one and the same problem) much more would be made about the clash between the state and individual liberties, particularly in relation to the British government apparent complicity in torture - not just in this case, but in the case of Binyan Mohamed as well. On this last note, I leave you with this YouTube clip of the director of Liberty on Question Time.