The Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) was an office within the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

which, between 2004 and 2013, managed the handling of complaints against the

judiciary of England and Wales There are various levels of judiciary in England and Wales—different types of courts have different styles of judges. They also form a strict hierarchy of importance, in line with the order of the courts in which they sit, so that judges ...

. On 1 October 2013 it was replaced by the

Judicial Conduct Investigations Office The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) is an independent statutory office in England whose remit is to investigate allegations of Judicial misconduct. Their offices are located in the Royal Courts of Justice, London. Their role is to su ...

. The OJC also assisted in the handling of complaints against the

judiciary of Scotland The judiciary of Scotland are the judicial office holders who sit in the courts of Scotland and make decisions in both civil and criminal cases. Judges make sure that cases and verdicts are within the parameters set by Scots law, and they ...

between 2004 and 2011, when the Judicial Complaints Reviewer was introduced.

Origin

The OJC was created in 2004 as part of the Labour government's programme of

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

reform. It existed to support the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

and

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

(and the

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

in respect of Scotland) consider and decide upon complaints against members of the judiciary. The current judicial discipline arrangements, under which the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice/Lord President handle complaints and disciplinary action, were established by Part 4 the

Constitutional Reform Act 2005 The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relevant to UK constitutional law. It provides for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to take over the previous appellate jurisdiction of the Law Lo ...

Investigation of complaints

Complaints about the conduct of judges or magistrates are not investigated by the

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s who make up the Office for Judicial Complaints. Once the OJC has determined that the complaint needs investigation, a preliminary investigation is conducted by a 'nominated judge' who reports to the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice. If a further, more detailed, investigation is required, this is carried out by an 'investigating judge'. Any disciplinary action required is taken by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice.

High-profile cases

Cherie Booth QC

On 23 January 2010 Cherie Booth QC, wife of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

(who until recently had been

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

), was sitting as a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

in a case where a man was found guilty violent

assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...

in which he broke another man's jaw in a queue in a bank. Ms Booth prevented the man from going to prison. "Mrs Blair said he was a 'religious person' who had not been in trouble before." A number of complaints were made to the Office for Judicial Complaints pointing out that under

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

everyone is equal under the law and individual religious beliefs cannot be reasons for the guilty to be given privileged treatment. On 10 June 2010 the OJC issued a statement saying that the investigation had found that "Recorder Booth’s observations did not constitute judicial misconduct".

Judge Trigger

On 18 May 2010, the OJC issued a statement reporting that, following investigation, the Lord Chief Justice had given Judge Trigger 'formal advice'OJC Investigation Statement – HH Judge Trigger
Office for Judicial Complaints, 18 May 2010 following comments he made whilst passing sentence in a case in July 2009. He had said to the defendant that "your case illustrates all too clearly the completely lax immigration policy that exists and has existed over recent years in this country. People like you, and there are literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people like you, come to these shores from foreign countries to avail themselves of the generous welfare benefits that exist here." The comments were found to be an "inappropriate judicial intervention in the political process".

Justice Peter Smith

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Peter Smith was given a formal reprimand by the Lord Chief JusticeOJC Investigation Statement – Mr Justice Peter Smith
Office for Judicial Complaints, April 2008 following behaviour which the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

strongly criticised as "extraordinary", "intemperate" and "regrettable".Howell & Ors v Lees Millais & Ors
(2007) EWCA Civ 720 (4 July 2007) The judge, who had failed to gain a position with the law firm

Addleshaw Goddard Addleshaw Goddard LLP (informally AG) is an international law firm headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. It is structured as an LLP and has circa 1,400 lawyers including 325 partners

, refused to stand down from hearing a case in which a partner in the firm was a party. The Court of Appeal had concluded that "the approach adopted by the judge ... provides strong support for ounsels submissions that the fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility that the judge was biased against Addleshaw Goddard and its partners, one of whom is the first claimant".

References

{{Reflist 2004 establishments in England 2013 disestablishments in England Judiciary of England and Wales Judiciary of Scotland Complaints organizations Judicial misconduct