The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (sometimes known as the Judicature Act 1873) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

in 1873. It reorganised the

English court system The courts of England and Wales, supported administratively by His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in England and Wales. The United Kingdom does not have a ...

to establish the High Court and 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 ...

, and also originally provided for the abolition of the

judicial functions of the House of Lords Whilst the House of Lords of the United Kingdom is the upper chamber of Parliament and has government ministers, it for many centuries had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachments, ...

with respect to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It would have retained those functions in relation to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

for the time being. However, the

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

government fell in 1874 before the Act entered into force, and the succeeding

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government suspended the entry into force of the Act by means of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Commencement) Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 83) and the

Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1875 In the history of the courts of England and Wales, the Judicature Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament, beginning in the 1870s, which aimed to fuse the hitherto split system of courts of England and Wales. The first two Acts were the Supre ...

History

The legislation for the Judicature Act of 1873 was drafted by the Judicature Commission which was chaired by

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 ...

Hatherley. Other members of the commission included judge George Bramwell, lawyers Sir John Hollams, Sir Robert Collier, and

John Burgess Karslake Sir John Burgess Karslake, QC (13 December 1821 – 4 October 1881) was an English lawyer and politician. The son of Henry Karslake, a solicitor and Confidential Secretary to the Duke of Kent, by his wife Elizabeth Marsh Preston, the daugh ...

, and parliament member

George Ward Hunt George Ward Hunt (30 July 1825 – 29 July 1877) was a British statesman of the Conservative Party who was Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Admiralty in the first and second ministries of Benjamin Disraeli. Early life He was bo ...

Liberal view

One of the reasons that the Liberal government under Gladstone wanted to abolish the judicial aspect of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

was that it was concerned for the poor quality of

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s at this court. Judges at the House of Lords secured their position by mere virtue of the fact that their fathers were

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

s and so individuals would automatically inherit seats in the upper house rather than securing their position through merit. Therefore, some of the best

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

s in the land were prohibited from sitting as judges in the upper house simply because of their parentage.

Conservative view

However, under the Conservative government, the 1874 and 1875 Acts retained the judicial aspect of the House of Lords and ensured the quality of judicial appointments to the House of Lords by legislating under the

Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 The Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 ( 39 & 40 Vict c 59) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the judicial functions of the House of Lords by allowing senior judges to sit in the House of Lords as life peers, known as ...

, for the mechanism of

law lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

. The reigning monarch could appoint any individual to be a peer and thus a judge in the House of Lords. These judicial life peers would hold seats only for the duration of their life; their seat would not pass through their inheritance to their son. Thus,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and subsequent monarchs were able to appoint leading lawyers to adjudicate in the House of Lords by making them life peers.

Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876

Lord Cairns Hugh McCalmont Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns (27 December 1819 – 2 April 1885), was an Irish-born British statesman who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain during the first two ministries of Benjamin Disraeli. He was one of the most p ...

, Disraeli's

, sought to remove the

jurisdiction for Scottish and Irish appeals as well, which would have completely removed its judicial jurisdiction. However, the Lord Chancellor could not muster the necessary support in the Parliament for the Bill as originally proposed in 1874 or when it was reintroduced in 1875. Finally, when it became clear that the English legal profession was firmly opposed to the reform proposals, the

removed the provisions for the abolition of the judicial functions of the House of Lords, although it retained the provisions that established the High Court and the

References

External links

The Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875
at the UK Parliament website