The Law Lords : An Account of the Workings of Britain's Highest Judicial Body and the Men Who Preside Over It

## List of Plates ix I am very grateful to the various Lords of Appeal past and present and to the retired Lord Chancellor who generously agreed to let me interview them for this book during the summer of 1997. On a more personal level I would like to thank my family and friends for their kindness towards me throughout the period that I was writing this work. My wife, Agapi, has been a tower of support. My parents, Della and Michael Barrett, have afforded me every encouragement. My brother, Dr Gavin Barrett, BL, has been particularly helpful, especially as regards making comments on the final text. My other brother, Conor, has also been supportive. My good friend Jennifer Powell has generously worked as a one-woman Reuters agency for the last year or so, trawling through the newspapers and the Internet each day to find anything that might be of relevance to this book. My college friends, Dr Jonathan Rush and Stefano Pistillo, have been consistently helpful. Finally my daughter, Athena, has done what she and her mother seem to do best -make everything seem so worthwhile. Notwithstanding the assistance I have received from the abovementioned people, any views expressed in this book are entirely personal, and the responsibility for any factual errors which may occur in the text rests with me alone. "The roughly 700-member House of Lords is not only a legislative body, it is also the final court of appeal for most cases decided in the United Kingdom. These days cases are not heard by the main body of the House of Lords, they are decided by a committee of the House known as the Appellate Committee. There are 12 full-time members on the Committee - the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. They are judges who have been appointed into the House of Lords specifically to hear appeals, and who do the work of the Appellate Committee." "Lately the Lords of Appeal have been in the news because of the General Pinochet appeal. This case has highlighted the importance of the Appellate Committee - and the fallibility of its members. But despite this recent splash of publicity the public still knows little of the Appellate Committee and its members. This book seeks to change that: it looks at the workings of the Appellate Committee and the work done by the Lords of Appeal. It is based in part on interviews conducted with past and present Appellate Committee members and is intended for anyone who is interested in discovering more about the personal and professional lives of the members of the most eminent and powerful judicial body in the United Kingdom."--Jacket The roughly one thousand-member House of Lords is not only a legislative body. It is also a court. In fact it is the final court of appeal for most cases decided in the United Kingdom. These days cases are not heard by the main body of the House of Lords. They are decided by a committee of the House known as the Appellate Committee. There are twelve full-time members on that Committee. These are the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. They are judges who have been appointed into the House of Lords specifically to hear appeals. Sometimes they are helped by the Lord Chancellor. Occasionally they are assisted by other peers who have had experience of high judicial office. The book is based, in part, on interviews conducted with past and present Appellate Committee members and is intended for anyone who is interested in discovering a little more about the personal and professional lives of the men who man the most eminent and powerful judicial body in the United Kingdom. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-6 The Origins of the Appellate Committee....Pages 7-17 The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary....Pages 18-69 The Lord Chancellor....Pages 70-119 Life on the Appellate Committee....Pages 120-157 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council....Pages 158-173 Back Matter....Pages 174-213 An academic study of the history, functioning and composition of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords—the highest appellate court in the United Kingdom before the creation of the UK Supreme Court.