Thursday 3 July 2014

Lord Chancellor - a heap of anomalies - Part 2

The ancient role of Lord Chancellor - (full title is Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain ) - was the subject of a blogpost of 8th June - Lord Chancellor - a heap of anomalies.  It has now been announced that House of Lords Constitution Committee is to hold an inquiry into the office of Lord Chancellor.   The Committee is calling for evidence and the call for evidence asks 10 questions.  These include - (Q10) - the fundamental question as to whether there should be a Lord Chancellor.

Written evidence must be submitted by 29th August 2014 and the committee hopes to report in the autumn.  In making a submission, the committee asks for the focus to be on the office and that personal comments relating to individual Lords Chancellor are avoided.

The present day Lord Chancellorship is a rump of its former glory. 
In my previous post, I argued for its abolition.  It will certainly be interesting to follow the committee's work and to see what countervailing arguments there are - e.g. whether there is a real need to have someone - (a senior figure) -  acting as a link between judiciary and the executive.


Other materials on the Lord Chancellorship include - Parliament Standard Note of 20th November 2003 - Parliament Constitution Reform Bill First Report 24th June 2004 - Parliament The role of the Lord Chancellor 19th June 2014.


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