High Court set to gain eight new judges

The government is set to appoint a further eight High Court judges in England and Wales, raising their number from 98 to 106. The new appointments are being made to deal with an anticipated increase in cases as a result of the forthcoming Human Rights Act. The Act comes into force in October and it is expected to bring about a rise in the number of cases as well as appeals against rulings of the lower courts.

In the meantime, the High Court in Scotland has ruled that the practice of appointing temporary judges (sheriffs) on one-year renewable contracts is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court said that the Convention requires judges to be independent and temporary sheriffs could not be independent since their term of office can be ended by the secretary of state and thus their future employment depends on further appointment.

At the time of the court ruling there were more temporary than permanent sheriffs in Scotland, where they performed at least a quarter of the work of the courts.