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103-683: As part of its duties, the Practitioners Board maintains several other regulatory bodies, such as the conveyancing appeal tribunals and the Conveyancing Ombudsman . Before the passing of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 , solicitors had a near-complete monopoly on conveyancing work. The introduction of licensed conveyancers with the passage of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 did little to change

206-500: A conveyancer , and allows any individual, corporation or employee of a corporation to act as a conveyancer if they or the corporation is suitably qualified. Qualified people are defined as solicitors , barristers , licensed conveyancers and notaries , as well as any companies and incorporated bodies found in Section 9 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 . These people can apply to become authorised conveyancers by applying to

309-636: A Judicial Appointments Commission to examine judicial appointments for government interference. Austin Mitchell proposed the abolition of QCs and the establishment of a legal services commission. After the bill's introduction in Parliament on 6 December 1989 it was debated by the House of Lords until 18 April 1990. On 8 May 1990 it moved to the House of Commons, where it stayed until 26 October, when it

412-601: A body outside the Law Society. After pressure from the Law Society and several of the larger regional societies, the reforms were toned down, and the final proposal (which was implemented on 31 August 1986) kept the responsibility of regulating the solicitors' profession within the Law Society but increased the separation of functions within the Society and required that the majority of the people on regulatory committees be lay people (not solicitors). The next major reform

515-604: A chairman (who must be a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary , Lord Justice of Appeal or a High Court judge ) and sixteen other members, all appointed by the Lord Chancellor . The first chairman appointed was Lord Griffiths , a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. The sixteen other members are divided so that: This section of the Act amended the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 to indicate that no Member of Parliament can be

618-401: A chairman and between four and eight other members appointed by the Lord Chancellor , who has to take into account "[the need] to provide a proper balance between the interests of authorised practitioners and those who make use of their services" when appointing members. As with the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct , no Member of Parliament may be a member of

721-445: A conveyancer or revoke his authorisation to provide conveyancing circumstances, which can be for a fixed or indefinite period. The board also maintains a compensation scheme for compensating individuals who lose money as a result of dishonest behaviour by authorised practitioners or the employees of authorised practitioners, which is paid for out of the annual fees authorised conveyancers pay each year. The Practitioners Board consists of

824-403: A conveyancing ombudsman and a compensation scheme for parties that suffer as a result of a conveyancer's actions appoint investigators to look into the behaviour of an authorised conveyancer. In terms of who can become a conveyancer – Section 36 removes limits on who can act as a conveyancer , and allows any individual, corporation or employee of a corporation to act as a conveyancer if they or

927-557: A guarantee that the government would allow non-solicitors to undertake conveyancing work once a Committee had set out proposals for protecting consumers who used these new conveyancers against losses. The committee, known as the Farrand Committee (after its chairman, Julian Farrand ), finished its report in September 1984. The government almost immediately changed the rules to allow for licensed conveyancers , introducing

1030-429: A loan agreement with them. It was well known at the time that many members of the cabinet were happy with the initial proposal, but that Lord Hailsham was determined not to let it pass and forced the government to go against its earlier suggestion. Following the loss of their conveyancing monopoly, solicitors turned to the barrister 's monopoly on rights of audience and attempted to have it removed. In March 1984

1133-791: A member of the Advisory Committee. Committee members are to serve for five years, and provisions are made for them to be paid and for them to maintain a staff, all of which are to be paid from the Lord Chancellor's budget. The committee is required to produce an annual report, which the Lord Chancellor must present to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons . The committee is tasked with maintaining and developing standards in "the education, training and conduct of those offering legal services", and with reviewing existing training schemes and any proposals for new training schemes. Section 36 removes limits on who can act as

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1236-792: A more detailed vetting process. High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London , known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England , together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court , are the Senior Courts of England and Wales . Its name is abbreviated as EWHC ( England and Wales High Court) for legal citation purposes. The High Court deals at first instance with all high-value and high-importance civil law (non- criminal ) cases; it also has

1339-578: A respected solicitor and member of the Council of the Law Society of England and Wales , the solicitors' professional body. Davies had charged Parsons £197,000 for legal services, a "grossly inflated and inaccurate legal bill" which was reduced to £67,000 without Davies complaining. Despite this the Law Society took no disciplinary action, allowing Davies to resign from the council on grounds of ill-health with his reputation intact. An investigation by

1442-586: A result of the House of Lords debate and the other criticism the Green Papers faced, the Lord Chancellor published a White Paper between the Green Papers and the introduction of a bill to Parliament . The paper ( Legal Services: A Framework for the Future ) was published in July 1989, and had a different tone to that of the Green Papers, referring more to the requirement of legal services to be responsive to

1545-500: A single judge, but certain kinds of proceedings, especially in the King's Bench Division, are assigned to a divisional court —a bench of two or more judges. Exceptionally the court may sit with a jury, but in practice normally only in defamation cases or cases against the police. Litigants are normally represented by counsel but may be represented by solicitors qualified to hold a right of audience, or they may act in person. In principle,

1648-718: A supervisory jurisdiction over all subordinate courts and tribunals, with a few statutory exceptions, though there are debates as to whether these exceptions are effective. The High Court consists of three divisions: the King's Bench Division , the Chancery Division and the Family Division . Their jurisdictions overlap in some cases, and cases started in one division may be transferred by court order to another where appropriate. The differences of procedure and practice between divisions are partly historical, derived from

1751-517: A transaction, causing issues with conflicts of interest, and failed to take into account the problems caused by banks and estate agents, who had interests in the housing market, being allowed to act as conveyancers. Several different parties responded to the Green Papers ; the judiciary published The Green Papers: The Judges' Response , the Bar published Quality of Justice: The Bar's Response and

1854-633: Is a member of a professional body recognised by the Lord Chancellor and that body considers him qualified to conduct litigation. A person also has rights of audience if they have been directly granted it, for example by the Lord Chancellor in County Court proceedings. The most immediate effect of this is that solicitors can now gain rights of audience in the Crown Court , High Court , Court of Appeal , Court of Session , Privy Council , and House of Lords if they qualify as Solicitor Advocates . Solicitor's clerks also have rights of audience in

1957-631: Is now organised into three divisions: the King's Bench Division, the Chancery Division, and the Family Division. A list of hearings in the High Court's divisions is published daily. The King's Bench Division (KBD) – or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female – hears a wide range of common law cases and also has special responsibility as a supervisory court. It includes subdivisions such as

2060-672: The Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board , the regulatory body for conveyancing. Section 36 also repeals the section of the Building Societies Act 1986 that covered banks acting as conveyancers, since they are covered as "companies and incorporated bodies". Section 34 establishes the Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board as a statutory corporation . The Practitioners Board is tasked with developing competition in conveyancing services to avoid monopolies, supervising

2163-556: The Companies Court ) which deal with patents and registered designs and company law matters respectively. All tax appeals are assigned to the Chancery Division. Until 2005, the Lord Chancellor was the de jure head of the Chancery Division, but appointed a Vice-Chancellor who nominally acted as his deputy. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 renamed the Vice-Chancellor to Chancellor of the High Court and made him

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2266-734: The Conservative government was re-elected in 1987 it announced that it would produce a set of Green Papers on the work and organisation of the legal profession. These papers formed the basis of a large part of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. The three Green Papers were published by Lord Mackay in January 1989, and were titled The Work and Organisation of the Legal Profession , Conveyancing by Authorised Practitioners and Contingency Fees . The Work and Organisation of

2369-571: The Court of Chancery , the Court of King's Bench , the Court of Common Pleas , the Court of Exchequer , the High Court of Admiralty , the Court of Probate , the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes , and the London Court of Bankruptcy – into a new Supreme Court of Judicature (now known as the Senior Courts of England and Wales ). The new Supreme Court was divided into the Court of Appeal , which exercised appellate jurisdiction , and

2472-462: The High Court to transfer any part of a High Court case to a county court in one of three situations; firstly if the parties consent, secondly where the High Court believes the amount in dispute is below the maximum amount the County Court is allowed to deal with and thirdly where the High Court believes that the case is not likely to raise any important question of law. Before the passing of

2575-501: The House of Lords with the appropriate certification, and was widely disliked by barristers and judges. The idea that barristers would not automatically have rights of audience also irritated them, and the idea that the Lord Chancellor would be responsible for defining which bodies could grant these certificates undermined the principle that the legal profession should be independent from the Government. In terms of conveyancing ,

2678-415: The Law Society argued that solicitors were not at that time bound by the cab-rank rule in their dealings in the lower courts, and that there was no reason why this should not be extended to the higher courts. Michael Zander argued that the demands for the extension of the cab rank rule to solicitors were overstated—before the passing of the Act clients had always been able to find solicitors, and there

2781-506: The Law Society for regulating solicitors engaged in conveyancing work and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers charged with regulating licensed conveyancers. The Practitioners Board is the body which authorises a person or body as fit to undertake conveyancing work. The Practitioners board assumes that banks, insurance companies and building societies are by definition fit to undertake such work, while other individuals and bodies undergo

2884-519: The Law Society published Striking the Balance: The Final Response of the Council of the Law Society on the Green Papers . The response to the Green Papers was overwhelmingly negative, both in these published opinions and generally—the consultation period was extended for a month due to disagreements with the judiciary, and an all-day debate in the House of Lords on 7 April 1989 produced an "overwhelmingly hostile response". As

2987-573: The Lord Chancellor to make an order giving rights of audience to anyone in County Court cases of a certain type. Section 4 of the Act amended the Supreme Court Act 1981 to extend the rules on costs that govern the Supreme Court of England and Wales to the county courts as well. At the same time it introduced "wasted costs", which are costs to a party as a result of "an improper, unreasonable or negligent act or omission" from

3090-518: The chambers of judges in the Crown Court and High Court, assuming they are being instructed by a qualified solicitor. A large amount of parliamentary time was spent debating the application of the cab-rank rule to new legal professionals granted rights of audience – the Bar argued that all people with rights of audience in the higher courts should be subject to the same rules as barristers , while

3193-479: The county courts (as established by the County Courts Act 1984 ). Other parties, if they were in "relevant legal employment", could also request rights of audience for a particular case. The Civil Justice Review found significant variations between courts as to who would be granted rights of audience, however, and Part I of the Courts and Legal Services Act attempted to address this. Section 11 allows

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3296-502: The "statutory objective", which reads "The general objective of this Part is the development of legal services in England and Wales (and in particular the development of advocacy, litigation, conveyancing and probate services) by making provision for new or better ways of providing such services and a wider choice of persons providing them, while maintaining the proper and efficient administration of justice." This "statutory objective"

3399-427: The 1970s, and significantly changed the way that the legal profession and court system worked. The changes introduced in the Act covered a variety of areas. Important changes were made to the judiciary , particularly in terms of appointments, judicial pensions and the introduction of district judges , the arbitration process of Alternative Dispute Resolution and the procedure in the courts, particularly in terms of

3502-1077: The Administrative Court, the Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court, and the Admiralty Court. Until 2005, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales was the head of the Division. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 created a President of the Queen's Bench Division . The Chancery Division (housed in the Rolls Building ) deals with business law , trusts law, probate law, insolvency, and land law in relation to issues of equity . It has specialist courts (the Patents Court and

3605-516: The Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board as a statutory corporation . The Practitioners Board is tasked with developing competition in conveyancing services to avoid monopolies, supervising the actions of licensed conveyancers and developing a way of monitoring said conveyancers. The Practitioners Board has the powers to both grand and refuse authorisation to conveyancing practitioners, establish

3708-479: The Board. Members hold their position for three years, and as with the Advisory Committee they are provided with money for a staff and running costs. They are expected to submit a report once a year to the Lord Chancellor. Sections 41 and 42 establish conveyancing appeals tribunals which hear complaints against decisions made by the Practitioners Board. Decisions of the Board which are appealed do not take effect until

3811-422: The Council of the Law Society of England and Wales attempted to press for full rights of audience for solicitors, something the Bar was heavily opposed to. The dispute came to the attention of the public when Cyril Smith 's solicitor asked to read out a statement settling a libel action in the High Court —he was refused, both at the High Court and the Court of Appeal , although a practice statement issued by

3914-527: The Court of Appeal in 1986 indicated that they felt solicitors should be allowed to appear in front of the High Court and Court of appeal in formal proceedings. A public debate followed, with the result being that a joint committee between the Law Society and the Bar was formed to discuss the future of the legal profession. Known as the Marre Committee after its chairwoman, Mary Marre , The committee

4017-443: The Courts and Legal Services Act, around 13,000 cases were transferred to the county courts each year in this way. The Act changed the system so that the High Court has a discretionary power to transfer any proceedings to the county courts. Section 3 of the Courts and Legal Services Act amends the County Courts Act 1984 to allow the county courts to award any remedy used by the High Court . There were several exceptions because

4120-470: The Family Division sit at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, while District Judges of the Family Division sit at First Avenue House, Holborn, London. The Family Division is comparatively modern. The Judicature Acts first combined the Court of Probate , the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes and the High Court of Admiralty into the then Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of

4223-664: The Green Paper proposed that the framework in the Building Societies Act would be repealed, and replaced by a system of authorised practitioners, where any person, partnership or corporate body could provide conveyancing services if they met certain standards. The authorised practitioners would have a professional code of conduct, and would be supervised by a certain number of licensed conveyancers and solicitors . The draft code of conduct had several flaws, however—it allowed practitioners to act for both parties in

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4326-402: The High Court depending on the complexity and any case worth more than £50,000 is dealt with in the High Court. Claims worth under £3,000 are automatically dealt with by the small claims track of the County Court. This has drastically speeded up proceedings in the High Court by making sure that only "important" and valuable cases are dealt with by them. The County Courts Act 1984 permitted

4429-529: The High Court has used seven circuits, listed below, which are identical to the Crown Court regions. The Senior Courts Costs Office, which quantifies legal costs pursuant to orders for costs, serves all divisions. The Costs Office is part of the High Court, so generally all detailed assessment proceedings commenced in the Costs Office are subject to provisional assessment. Exceptions from provisional assessment are detailed assessment proceedings in which

4532-471: The High Court is bound by its own previous decisions, but there are conflicting authorities as to what extent this is so. Appeal from the High Court in civil matters normally lies to the Court of Appeal, and thence in cases of importance to the Supreme Court (the House of Lords before 2009); in some cases a "leapfrog" appeal may be made directly to the Supreme Court. In criminal matters, appeals from

4635-494: The High Court to hear particular cases, and while sitting are addressed as though they were full High Court judges. Trials in London are also conducted by Insolvency and Companies Court Judges and Masters, who have almost identical trial jurisdiction to full High Court judges but who do not hear committals to prison, criminal cases, or judicial review and do not travel 'on circuit' to outlying courts. High Court justices (usually from

4738-482: The High Court, or The Court of Wills, Wives and Wrecks , as it was informally called. That was renamed the Family Division in 1971 when the admiralty and contentious probate business were transferred elsewhere. The Family Division has faced criticism by allowing allegedly abusive partners to cross-examine their former partners; a procedure already banned in criminal procedure. Peter Kyle , MP for Hove , claimed this amounted to "abuse and brutalisation", and called for

4841-550: The High Court, which exercised original jurisdiction . Originally, the High Court consisted of five divisions, the King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, Chancery, and Probate, Divorce and Admiralty divisions. In 1880, the Common Pleas and Exchequer divisions were abolished, leaving three divisions. The Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division was renamed to the Family Division by the Administration of Justice Act 1970 , and its jurisdiction reorganised accordingly. The High Court

4944-515: The House Buyers Bill. This aimed to remove the restrictions on conveyancing, and although the government opposed it they made it clear that they planned to allow banks and building societies to carry out conveyancing for their customers, and would also be prepared to allow non-solicitors with suitable qualifications to carry out conveyancing work as well. After negotiations with the government, Mitchell withdrew his bill in exchange for

5047-403: The House of Commons on 7 June 1988, Despite this brief respite, a series of events in the 1980s helped spur a period of dramatic change in the legal profession that culminated in the Courts and Legal Services Act. The Glanville Davies affair in 1982 highlighted severe problems in the way solicitors regulated themselves. Leslie Parsons filed a complaint against his solicitor, Glanville Davies,

5150-461: The King's Bench Division under the names of the Admiralty Court, the Commercial Court, and the Technology and Construction Court, and in the Chancery Division under the lists for business, company and insolvency law, competition, finance, intellectual property, revenue, and trusts and probate. The change was meant to enable judges who have suitable expertise and experience in the specialist business and property jurisdictions to be cross-deployed to sit in

5253-474: The King's Bench Division) also sit in the Crown Court , which try the more significant criminal cases, but High Court Judges only hear the most serious and important cases, with circuit judges and recorders hearing the majority. Historically the ultimate source of all justice in England was the monarch. All judges sit in judgment on the monarch's behalf (hence they have the royal coat of arms displayed behind them) and criminal prosecutions are generally made in

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5356-632: The King's Bench Divisional Court are made directly to the Supreme Court. The High Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in the City of Westminster , London. It has district registries across England and Wales ; almost all High Court proceedings may be issued and heard at a district registry. The High Court of Justice was established in 1875 by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 . The Act merged eight existing English courts –

5459-708: The Labour government under Harold Wilson created a Royal Commission on Legal Services, known as the Benson Commission (after its chairman Sir Henry Benson ), which was asked to "examine the structure, organisation, training and regulation of the legal profession and to recommend those changes that would be desirable to the interests of justice". The Commission frightened the legal profession, which believed that they were likely to face severe structural changes and lose their monopolies on probate work and conveyancing work. Their fears were unfounded, however—when

5562-581: The Lay Observer and the Law Society itself (which became known as the Ely Report ) highlighted "an appalling catalogue of errors, insensitivity and poor judgment" in the handling of the Davies Affair by the Law Society internal disciplinary organisation, with "administrative failures, wrong decisions, mistakes, errors of judgement, failures in communication and insenstivity... the whole affair

5665-459: The Legal Profession was the main paper, and stated that the overall government objective was to ensure that: "' the market providing legal services operates freely and efficiently so as to give clients the widest possible choice of cost effective services; and the public can be certain that those services are being supplied by people who have the necessary expertise to provide a service in the area in question... [we believe] free competition between

5768-473: The Lord Chancellor on which bodies should be allowed to grant rights of audience to their members. The second main feature was for rights of audience . Mackay proposed that all lawyers, whether barristers or solicitors , should require a certificate of competence to work in the higher courts, while their initial professional qualifications would allow them to practice in the lower courts. This proposal allowed solicitors to gain full rights of audience up to

5871-424: The Practitioners Board must be convinced that the applicant is a "fit and proper person" to carry out this business, and that the applicant will follow the rules and regulations established by the Practitioners Board. The board can refuse applications, although they must provide a reason, which the applicant is entitled to reply to in writing within 28 days of it being issued. The Practitioners Board can also suspend

5974-547: The Practitioners Board, and presents an annual report to the Board detailing his activities. Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the legal profession and courts of England and Wales . The Act was the culmination of a series of reports and reforms that started with the Benson Commission in

6077-496: The actions of licensed conveyancers and developing a way of monitoring said conveyancers. The Practitioners Board has the powers to both grant and refuse authorisation to conveyancing practitioners, establish a conveyancing ombudsman and a compensation scheme for parties that suffer as a result of a conveyancer's actions appoint investigators to look into the behaviour of an authorised conveyancer. There are therefore three regulatory bodies under this Section—the Practitioners Board,

6180-400: The appeal process is complete. The tribunals are made up of three members – two lay persons (classified as people who are not practising legal professionals) and one legal professional. Any appeals to tribunal decisions go to the High Court . Section 43 of the Act establishes a Conveyancing Ombudsman who investigates complaints against authorised practitioners. This individual is paid for by

6283-476: The bill was printed on 6 December 1989, and consisted of 87 sections and 13 schedules spread over 115 pages. By the time the bill passed this had been extended to 125 sections and 20 schedules spread over 201 pages, mostly due to the discovery of how complex the required reforms would really be. The bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 6 December 1989 by Lord Strathmore . Several proposed clauses were debated in great detail, but failed to be included in

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6386-399: The changes with a section in the Administration of Justice Act 1985 . Despite worries that this would bankrupt solicitors who specialised in conveyancing work, very few licensed conveyancers began practising due to the difficulties in qualifying, and although the field has become more competitive there has been no substantial loss of revenue like that feared. Solicitors were more scared by

6489-517: The code of conduct set out by the Bar . The Law Society would be recognised under the Act as having the authority to declare a solicitor qualified to practice in a particular court, and solicitors would be recognised as soon as they finished their training contract as having rights of audience in the lower courts. The monopoly on starting and conducting litigation would also be removed, allowing any recognised legal authority to certify its members as fit to work as an advocate. The first draft of

6592-505: The colour of their formal robes, in contrast to the junior circuit judges who are referred to as purple judges for the same reason. Masters (also judges in the High Court) are addressed as 'Master', regardless of gender, or 'Judge' and they wear dark blue gowns with pink tabs echoing the red of the High Court justices' robes. Within the Chancery Division of the High Court, there are also Insolvency and Companies Court Judges , who hear

6695-410: The complexity involved or the importance of any legal question likely to be raised. An exception to this rule is that the Lord Chancellor cannot ask the County Court to hear any case of judicial review . The result of this section of the Act is that any case worth less than £25,000 is dealt with in the County Court, any case worth between £25,000 and £50,000 is dealt with in either the County Court or

6798-449: The continued independence of the judiciary", and both Houses of Parliament have standing orders to similar effect. High Court justices may be removed before their statutory retirement age only by a procedure requiring the approval of both Houses of Parliament. In addition to full High Court justices, other qualified persons such as retired judges, circuit judges from the County Court , and barristers are appointed to sit as deputy judges of

6901-431: The corporation is suitably qualified. Qualified people are defined as solicitors , barristers , licensed conveyancers and notaries , as well as any companies and incorporated bodies found in Section 9 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 . These people can apply to become authorised conveyancers by applying to the Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board. To allow an applicant to act as an authorised conveyancer,

7004-534: The country in set 'circuits', where they hear cases in the 'district registries' of the High Court. The 'main' High Court (in the City of Westminster, London) is not itself a High Court district registry. The High Court previously divided England and Wales into six circuits namely the Midlands, Northern England, North Eastern England, South Eastern England, Wales (including Cheshire ), and Western England. Since 2005,

7107-580: The county courts, while any case valued at more than that would go straight to the High Court. Section 1 of the Act allows the Lord Chancellor to change the financial boundaries after consultation with senior judges such as the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls , and also allows the Lord Chancellor to create categories based on things other than the financial value of the case, such as

7210-452: The court system and speed up the process. The Act also changed the court rules on the submission of evidence. The Civil Justice Review found that many cases which could easily have been settled before the hearings in court were not, primarily because there was no way of assessing the strength of the other side's arguments and their evidence. The Civil Justice Review suggested that forcing parties to provide evidence and witness statements to

7313-473: The distribution of civil business between the High Court and the county courts . The most significant changes were made in the way the legal profession was organised and regulated. The Act broke the monopoly solicitors held on conveyancing work, creating an Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board which could certify "any individual, corporation or employee of a corporation" as an authorised conveyancer subject to certain requirements. The Act also broke

7416-494: The final act. Lord Mishcon suggested that the Lord Chancellor should be required to "ensure that reasonable standards are set" for the courts service, the aim being to avoid delays and unnecessary expense. Lord Rawlinson made two proposals—firstly, to abolish the judicial functions of the Lord Chancellor (something that was later included in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 ), and secondly to establish

7519-523: The financial markets. The procedure was introduced to enable fast, efficient and high quality dispute resolution of claims related to the financial markets. The formation within the High Court of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales was announced in March 2017, and launched in London in July 2017. The courts would in future administer the specialist jurisdictions previously administered in

7622-435: The great reforming statutes of the twentieth century" and "one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting the delivery of legal services since 1949". During the 1960s the legal profession ( barristers , solicitors , and certificated notaries ) came under fire for what was perceived to be poor performance, the high cost of conveyancing , and its failure to deal with the needs of all levels of society. In response,

7725-637: The head of the Division. Cases heard before the Chancery Division are reported in the Chancery Division law reports. In practice, there is some overlap of jurisdiction with the KBD. From October 2015, the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court have maintained the Financial List for cases which would benefit from being heard by judges with suitable expertise and experience in the financial markets or which raise issues of general importance to

7828-442: The institutions from providing conveyancing, either directly or through a subsidiary company in which they hold a majority stake, to those who are also borrowing from them". This essentially killed the proposal (a framework which would allow banks to undertake conveyancing work was included in the Building Societies Act 1986 but never implemented) because the banks had no interest in lending only to people who were not also engaged in

7931-465: The judge and asked to explain their behaviour. If the explanation is not satisfactory they can be fined up to £400. This section was not entirely popular with the Members of Parliament , with Lord Grantchester calling it "a sledgehammer to crack a nut". Part II of the act is considered the most important and sets out a new regulatory framework for the legal profession. This section is the subject of

8034-513: The majority of High Court insolvency (both personal and corporate) and company law cases and trials, together with some appeals from the County Court. They too wear dark blue gowns with pink tabs and are addressed as 'Judge' in court. Justices of the High Court, Insolvency and Companies Court Judges and Masters are appointed by the King on the recommendation of Judicial Appointments Commission , from qualified lawyers. The Lord Chancellor, and all government ministers, are statutorily required to "uphold

8137-444: The monarch's name. Historically, local magnates administered justice in manorial courts and other ways. Inevitably, the justice administered was patchy and appeals were made direct to the monarch. The monarch's travelling representatives (whose primary purpose was tax collection) acted on behalf of the monarch to make the administration of justice more even (see Royal justice ) . The tradition continues of judges travelling around

8240-451: The monopoly the Bar held on advocacy and litigation in the higher courts by granting solicitors rights of audience in the Crown Court , High Court , Court of Appeal , Court of Session , Privy Council , and House of Lords if they qualify as solicitor advocates . The Act also made many minor changes to areas as varied as family law , criminal prosecutions and the distribution of costs in civil cases. The Act has been called "[one of]

8343-580: The needs of the client rather than the discipline of the market and problems with competition between branches of the legal profession. The white paper was divided into four sections: The White Paper allowed for extended rights of audience for both solicitors and any newly created legal disciplines, and also allowed that for certain types of cases, particularly in the county courts , there would be no limits on who could work as an advocate. All barristers would be allowed full rights of audience as soon as they completed pupillage , as long as they comply with

8446-461: The new role of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education, which was to be expanded to cover matters of professional conduct as well, and be renamed the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (ACLEC). The committee would have fifteen members, all appointed by the Lord Chancellor , and would be tasked with commenting on lawyers' education, training and codes of conduct. The Advisory Committee would also advise

8549-437: The opinion of the High Court judge) from the High Court to the Court of Appeal . This was hotly debated, but the Master of the Rolls pointed out in Parliament that there is a significantly higher success rate in cases where the parties require the judge's permission to appeal than cases where the parties have absolute rights of appeal, implying that the restriction of absolute rights of appeal should cut pointless cases out of

8652-420: The other party before the case comes to court. Any party who fails to comply with this may be refused leave to present this oral evidence in court. A similar system had been used in the Chancery Division , Admiralty Court and Commercial Court since 1986. Prior to the passing of the Courts and Legal Services Act, only barristers , solicitors and the parties to a case had automatic rights of audience in

8755-538: The other party. The Act also applies special rules to High Court cases that the judge believes should have been brought in the County Court—the judge can reduce any costs by up to 25 percent to take into account the unneeded expense for both parties. The Act also introduces direct fines for parties that do not turn up to a hearing in a High Court or Crown Court case. If a party fails to attend an agreed meeting, with no warning beforehand, they can be summoned before

8858-411: The other side before the case came to court would make this assessment easier, and would lead to the parties settling their case before it came to court if one side was at an obvious disadvantage. This suggestion was accepted, and included in the Act, which says that each party must produce written statements of any oral evidence they intend to present in court, and that these statements should be given to

8961-509: The parents' consent. In 2002 it made a landmark judgement in the case of Ms B v An NHS Hospital Trust regarding the right of mentally competent patients to withdraw from life-saving treatment. The Family Division exercises jurisdiction to hear all cases relating to children's welfare, and has an exclusive jurisdiction in wardship cases. Its head is the President of the Family Division , currently Sir Andrew McFarlane . High Court Judges of

9064-516: The proposal that banks would be allowed to offer conveyancing services, but this suggestion eventually came to nothing. The government introduced a consultation paper on the subject in April 1984, but in December 1985 announced that it "was not satisfied that lending institutions could safely be permitted to offer both conveyancing and a loan in the same transaction. It is therefore proposed to prohibit

9167-401: The providers of legal services will, through the discipline of the market, ensure that the public is provided with the most efficient network of legal services at the most economical prices, although the Government also believes that the public must also be assured of the competence of the providers of those services" The Green Papers had several main features, the first of which was describing

9270-406: The report was published in 1979 it did not propose any radical changes, with one editorial describing it as "characterised by an over-anxiety not to offend the professional establishment". In particular it ruled out the possibility of partnerships between barristers, upheld the idea of a split profession (one with both solicitors and barristers, in contrast to a fused profession ) and also rejected

9373-423: The separate courts which were merged into the single High Court by the 19th-century Judicature Acts , but are mainly driven by the usual nature of their work, for example, conflicting evidence of fact is quite commonly given in person in the King's Bench Division, but evidence by affidavit is more usual in the Chancery Division which is primarily concerned with points of law. Most High Court proceedings are heard by

9476-564: The situation, with no great switch in conveyancing work from solicitors to licensed conveyancers. In an attempt to disrupt this monopoly and act on the conclusions of the Civil Justice Review , the British Government passed the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 , one of the aims of which was to widen the field of who could become a conveyancer. As such, Section 34 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 established

9579-436: The specialist courts, while continuing existing practices for cases that proceed in them. The Family Division deals with personal human matters such as divorce, children, probate and medical treatment . Its decisions are often of great importance only to the parties, but may concern life and death and are perhaps inevitably regarded as controversial. For example, it permitted a hospital to separate conjoined twins without

9682-605: The status of the County Courts made it illogical to allow them to write orders of mandamus or certiorari . The new section also allows the Lord Chancellor to prohibit the county courts from making certain other types of order, with these types to be introduced by statutory instrument . Again, these are orders which it would be illogical to allow the county courts to write, such as Anton Piller orders or Mareva injunctions . The Act also removes certain absolute rights of appeal (allowing parties to appeal regardless of

9785-411: The suggestion to allow solicitors rights of audience in the High Court . The report concluded that the practice of law was a profession, and that a profession had to be independent of government, because without independence the interests of a client cannot be a primary consideration. As such, since the legal profession regulated itself through organisations such as the Law Society and Bar Council, it

9888-947: The system to be changed. Liz Truss , when she was Lord Chancellor , announced plans to end this practice, and proposals were contained in Clause 47 of the Prisons and Courts Bill before Parliament was prorogued for the 2017 general election . The High Court only operates within four traditional periods in the year, known as sittings : The Justices of His Majesty's High Court of Justice are informally known as High Court judges , and in judicial matters are formally styled "The Honourable Mr(s) Justice (Forename) Surname", abbreviated in writing to "Surname J". In court, they are properly addressed as My Lord or My Lady . Since by convention they are knighted upon appointment, socially they are addressed as Sir Forename or Dame Forename . High Court judges are sometimes referred to as red judges after

9991-406: Was a completely new way of introducing legislation, and is intended as an aid to those who have to apply it. The most important element of this Part was the extension of rights of audience in the higher courts to solicitors and other legal professionals. Sections 27 and 28 of Part II give an advocate rights of audience and the right to conduct litigation if the advocate is qualified to do so,

10094-412: Was a disgrace to the Society". The Society paid compensation to Parsons for their mishandling of the situation, and said that they would compensate victims of similar cases where they had failed to investigate complaints with reasonable care. As a result of this and similar controversies, Alf Dubs introduced a private member's bill to move the responsibility of regulating the solicitors profession to

10197-472: Was best if it stayed independent of government interference. The Commission did recommend an examination of the court and legal procedures to see if time and money could be saved for the parties involved. The government response to the Benson Committee's report was published in 1983, and established a Civil Justice Review to examine court procedure. The report of the review board was put before

10300-442: Was established in April 1986 and made its report in July 1988. The committee had not been a successful one—the result was split, with the solicitor members and six of the seven independent members recommending the extension of solicitors' rights of audience to the Crown Court , with the Bar representatives and one independent member disagreeing and attaching a Note of Dissent to the final report that undermined its conclusions. When

10403-436: Was no reason why this should suddenly change when the act came into force. The Bar won this particular argument, however, and as a result anybody who can certificate advocates as qualified to hold rights of audience in the higher courts must have a code of conduct governing advocates who refuse cases. Section 19 of Part II established the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct , which consists of

10506-577: Was passed. The bill received the Royal Assent on 1 November 1990. The final version of the act was divided into six sections: Part I of the Act made several changes to the procedure used in civil courts, namely the High Court and the county courts . Almost all civil work is dealt with by either the High Court or the County Court. Prior to the Act, there was a simple financial boundary to decide which cases would go to which court—any contract or tort case valued at less than £5,000 would go to

10609-430: Was the loss of the conveyancing monopoly. Before 1983, only solicitors had been authorised to take part in conveyancing work—for anyone else to draft documents relating to the transfer of property was a statutory offence. In December 1983 Austin Mitchell , a Labour Member of Parliament who had been one of the initial supporters of Alf Dubs ' private member's bill introduced a private member's bill of his own called

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