Supreme_Court

•1399 – House of Lords becomes highest Court of Appeal •1876 - Appellate Jurisdiction Act was passed •Post-WW2 The Appellate Committee was formed •Supreme Court established – 01-10-09 from Constitutional Reform Act 2005 What is the UK Supreme Court' It is the new highest court in the United Kingdom, acting as a final court of appeal in cases of major public importance. The Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom. The judicial role of the House of Lords evolved over more than 600 years. Until 1399, both Houses of Parliament heard petitions for the judgments of lower courts to be reversed. After this date, the House of Commons stopped considering such cases, leaving the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal. In 1876, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act was passed to regulate how appeals were heard. It also appointed Lords of Appeal in Ordinary: highly qualified professional judges working full time on the judicial business of the House. These Law Lords were able to vote on legislation as full Members of the House of Lords, but in practice rarely did so. Before the second world war, the Law Lords used to hear appeals each day in the chamber of the House of Lords. After the House of Commons was bombed, the Law Lords moved their hearings to a nearby committee room to escape the noise of the building repairs, constituting themselves as an Appellate Committee for the purpose. In fact, this temporary arrangement proved so successful that it became permanent, and continued for the remainder of the Appellate Committee’s life. The Supreme Court was established by Part 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and started work on 1 October 2009. On the commencement of the Supreme Court in October 2009, all current Law Lords became its first Justices. The first Justices remain Members of the House of Lords, but are unable to sit and vote in the House. All new Justices appointed after October 2009 will be directly appointed to The Supreme Court on the recommendation of a selection commission.