Labour Research June 2000

Law Matters

Part-time judges

Changes have been made to the appointments procedure for part-time judges. They are in response to a recent court ruling which suggested that part-time judges appointed by the lord chancellor could not be seen as completely independent because their re-appointment was subject to political controls.

In future, appointments will be for no less than five years or up to retirement. In most cases they will have the right to have their appointment renewed automatically.