Cambridgeshire and District Law Society: 'Are Judges Becoming Too Political?'

Location: LG17, Law Faculty Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge

Rt Hon Sir Patrick Elias, LJ PC, Lord Justice of Appeal will address the question "Are Judges Becoming Too Political?"

The Lecture will be followed by a Drinks Reception in The Atrium

Entry Free - by ticket only, which can be obtained from CDLS, 6 Crossways, The Green, Haddenham, Ely CB6 3TP OR by phone 01353 741530 OR email admin@cambslawsoc.freeserve.co.uk

Solicitors, barristers, legal executives, and licensed conveyancers who wish to be registered for 1hr CPD (EHR/CALS/1421) should so indicate when booking

The Lecture: Until the Human Rights Act the classic view of the constitution was that Parliament was supreme and the judges were its handmaidens. Their task, as far as legislation was concerned, was to interpret and give effect to Parliament’s intentions. The theory was that this involved legal expertise and that judges could be disembodied from their own views and value judgments.

That was always something of a fiction, if only because it is impossible for judges to be wholly uninfluenced by their deeply and often unconsciously held views; but the Human Rights Act has compelled judges to question legislation in much more fundamental fashion and to measure it against human rights values. There have been serious challenges on human rights grounds to highly charged political legislation such as the so called bedroom tax; the cap on welfare benefits; payments to asylum seekers; and university fees. Such challenges are likely to be reinforced by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which includes various social rights not found in the Convention.

These developments raise fundamental questions. Does the enlarging of judicial power undermine the democratic ethic? What is the risk that judges will be influenced by personal ideological or political views? And does the legal process, and in particular the application of the justification principle, enable the courts to strike an acceptable balance between Parliamentary Sovereignty and human rights? If judges are perceived to be too political, might this alter the system of judicial appointments?

The Speaker: The Rt Hon Sir Patrick Elias LJ PC gained 1st class honours in his LLB at Exeter University, then MA and PhD at King's College Cambridge. A fellow of Pembroke College from 1973 to 1984 and a University lecturer 1975-85, he was made an honorary fellow at Pembroke in 2010. He received Honorary LLDs from Exeter University in 2001 and from City University London in 2003.

He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1973, took silk in 1990, and became a bencher in 1995. He served as Assistant Recorder 1997-99, was appointed Deputy High Court Judge in January 1999 and four months later was named Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division. He was President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal 2006-09, and was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in 2009. On 3 March that year he was appointed to the Privy Council.

Sir Patrick is the co-author of Labour Law: Cases and Materials and Trade Union Democracy, Members’ Rights and the Law, and is editor of Harvey on Industrial Relations and Employment Law. He is a former member of the Court of City University London and served as chairman of the University's Advisory Board for Law. He says it is the challenging puzzles the law poses that motivate him, which may be why he finds most enjoyment in judicial review cases.