Judicial Reform and Human Rights

Abstract

Immediately following the 1997 election, the New Labour government began to pursue a series of radical constitutional reforms with the intention of making British political institutions more effective and more accountable. As a result of these reforms, the judiciary has witnessed more change in the last ten years than in the entire past century. The Human Rights Act (1998) dramatically extended the practice of judicial review. The Constitutional Reform Act (2005) overhauled the Lord Chancellor’s office and the process of judicial appointments while also setting the scene for the creation of a Supreme Court.KeywordsJudicial ReviewJudicial AuthorityHome DepartmentBritish PoliticsMandatory Minimum SentenceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.