Lord Chief Justice Speech
Speech given by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Chief Justice, at the launch of the Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council
I have only time to say a few words, because I am sitting in the Court of Appeal on an appeal from the Administrative Court. But I was very keen to be here on this important day and my presence is symbolic of the interrelationship that there will be between the courts and the Tribunals Service.
First of all your Senior President is a Senior Judge, and I anticipate that this will always be the case. On Monday at the Royal Courts of Justice I had the great pleasure of swearing in Robert Carnwath as the first Senior President of Tribunals. I would like to express my appreciation and admiration for the way that he as shadow President has supervised the gestation of the new Tribunals Service as the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act was drafted and passed smoothly through Parliament, working with Peter Handcock and his admirable team. It has been wonderful to see the way in which Sir Andrew Leggatt’s visionary reforms have been put into effect.
In speaking to my judicial colleagues in France I have had to admit, to their surprise, that we did not have a coherent system of administrative law and attempted to explain the way that the judges had developed a system of appeals against decisions in this field by way of judicial review alongside the statutory appeals that lay from some tribunals. That will no longer be the case, although we have still to work out precisely how appellate work will be shared between the Upper Tribunal and the Administrative Court and the extent to which High Court judges will sit in that Tribunal.
The distinction between courts and the specialist tribunals, with the involvement of lay members who are experienced in the particular specialities must be and will be preserved. But we will both be administering justice with the same objectivity and impartiality and we will both enjoy the same judicial independence. We will share common systems of judicial appointments and judicial discipline. And of course some of the judges who sit in the courts will also sit in the tribunals.
You will have the leadership of an independent Senior President, but both he and you can rely upon the support of the Lord President, the Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and myself and my successors, for, as Sir Robert has said, we are all members of one judicial family and we will inevitably share common aspirations and concerns. Section 47 of the Act recognises this in its provision for mutual co-operation between us.
And so, may I add my tribute to the excellent work of the former Council on Tribunals, under the leadership of Lord Newton and add my best wishes for future success of the new Council and the new Tribunals Service.