This Is the Last Topic of Unit 2 That We Will Study at AS Level. Edexcel Define It As Follows

This is the last topic of Unit 2 that we will study at AS level. Edexcel define it as follows.

Key concepts

·  judiciary

·  judicial independence

·  judicial neutrality

·  civil liberty/civil liberties

·  rule of law

Content explanation

Role of the judiciary — a knowledge and understanding of the role and significance of the judiciary in promoting rule-based governance.

Power and influence of judges — a knowledge and understanding of the relationship between the judiciary and other branches of government, and of the extent to which judges can check the power of the executive and the legislature.

Civil liberties and individual rights — a knowledge and understanding of the impact of the courts on the issues of civil liberties and individual rights including the implications of the Human Rights Act and possible reforms such as the introduction of a supreme court and a constitutional bill of rights, and of the relationship between the judiciary, the European courts and EU law.

You should refer to Chapter 12, pp 309-326 in your text book and pp 38-47 in your Edexcel unit guide.

1. First of all it is important to recall that the judiciary is one of the three branches of government. Read the following source and then in your own words define what is meant by the term judiciary in the box below.

SOURCE A In law, the judiciary is the system of courts which administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state and a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. It usually consists of a court of a final appeal (often called the 'supreme court') and other lower courts.

The term is also used to refer collectively to the judges, magistrates and other adjudicators who form the core of a judiciary, as well as the support personnel who keep the system running smoothly. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, 'the judiciary is the branch of government primarily responsible for interpreting the law'. It applies the laws enacted by the legislature. Adapted from Wikipedia 28th March 2009

The Judiciary

The Main functions of the judiciary

If we accept the definition that the judiciary consists of those judges that sit in judgement in law courts we can argue that they do sometimes have a political role. This political role can include being involved in the process of judicial review (which we study later), judging cases where a citizen has a dispute with the government, dealing with cases concerned with human rights or civil liberties and adjudicating between EU and British law. Carefully read your Edexcel text book pp 278-282 and make notes on the some of the functions of the judiciary.

Dispensing justice

Interpretation

Creating case law

Declaring common law

Judicial review

Copy out the purple key word box on page 279 into the box below to define what judicial review means.

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Public inquiries

SOURCE A A Wikipedia account of the 2004 Hutton enquiry. A good example of a public inquiry

The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the United Kingdom Labour government with the terms of reference "...urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly".

On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, was found dead after he had been named as the source of quotes used by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. These quotes had formed the basis of media reports claiming that Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The inquiry opened in August 2003 and reported on 28 January 2004. The inquiry report cleared the government of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman and director-general.

The report was met with criticism by British newspapers opposed to the Iraq invasion, such as The Guardian and the Daily Mail, though others said it exposed serious flaws within the BBC

External jurisdiction

Sentencing issues

Cases of political importance. Study the table on page 281 of your Edexcel text book and complete the table below to give details of important cases that have had political importance. The two in BOLD CAPITALS are of particular importance and you should memorise them.

The Case / Details
GCHQ 1985
FACTORTAME 1991
Michael Douglas v Hello magazine 2001
Mental health Case Act 2002
BELMARSH CASE 2004