Constitutional Reform Act 2005

Constitutional Reform Act 2005

2005 CHAPTER 4

Commentary on Sections

Schedule 14: the Judicial Appointments Commission: relevant functions and offices

Section 90: The Lord Chancellor’s options

299. In the same way as in relation to more senior appointments, when the Lord Chancellor receives the report informing him of the person selected by the Commission, he has three options. He can accept the selected person; reject that person and require a different name to be put forward; or require the Commission to reconsider its selection. This is stage 1 of the process. If the Lord Chancellor rejects the selection or requires reconsideration, the process moves into stage 2. At this stage the Commission puts a name to the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Chancellor has these options: he may accept the selected person; he may reject the selection (but only if he has not already used that power at stage 1); or he may require reconsideration (but only if he has not already used that power at stage 1). If the Lord Chancellor rejects the selection or requires reconsideration, the process moves into stage 3. At this stage the Commission again puts a name to the Lord Chancellor. This time he must accept the selection of the latest selected candidate, or of a candidate selected in stage 1 or stage 2 whose name was not resubmitted by the Commission after reconsideration, but who has not been rejected.