Doc. 9096
9 May 2001

Office of Lord Chancellor in the constitutional system of the United Kingdom

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mr Jurgens and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.       In the constitutional system of the United Kingdom the office of Lord Chancellor combines executive, legislative and judicial functions.

2.       The Lord Chancellor is

-       a cabinet minister and as such responsible for, among other matters, appointing judges, including the Law Lords (i.e. the members of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, which effectively performs the function of a supreme court);

-       president (‘speaker’) of the House of Lords and is as such presiding member of the upper house of the legislative body;

-       chairman of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, and fulfils as such an important judicial function.

3.       The Assembly, when deciding on the accession of new member states and when monitoring member states as to the measure in which they conform to the common standards of the Council of Europe and to the rule of law, has repeatedly stressed that judges should be a completely independent branch of government.

4.       It is undeniable that combining the function of judge with functions in other branches of government calls that independence seriously into question.

5.       The Assembly therefore invites the United Kingdom to review the office of the Lord Chancellor as chairman and member of the Appellate Division of the House of Lords in such a way that his judicial function is no longer combined with membership of the cabinet and with the presiding membership of a chamber of the legislative assembly.

Signed : ¹

Jurgens, Netherlands, SOC

Clerfayt, Belgium, LDR

Err, Luxembourg, SOC

Fyodorov, Russia, LDR

Holovaty, Ukraine, LDR

Hunault, France, EDG

Kovalev S., Russia, LDR

Lippelt, Germany, LDR

Marty, Switzerland, LDR

Nabholz-Haidegger, Switzerland, LDR

Vanoost, Belgium, SOC

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group