Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007

Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007

2007 CHAPTER 15

Part 2: Judicial Appointments

Commentary on Sections: Part 2

Section 53: Transfer from salaried to fee-paid judicial office

297. This section makes provision for the appointment to fee-paid judicial offices of those who have previously held corresponding salaried appointments. It adds two new sections, 94A and 94B, to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Subsections (1) and (2) of the new section 94A enable the Lord Chancellor to make appointments to fee-paid offices in the ordinary courts below the rank of circuit judge (and to fee-paid offices in courts established under armed forces legislation), without the JAC selection process applying. Such appointments may be made only with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice and provided the person holds a corresponding qualifying salaried office or has ceased to hold such an office within the two years immediately preceding the proposed appointment. Subsection (3) enables the Lord Chief Justice to delegate his power of concurrence. Section 94B makes corresponding provision to enable the Lord Chancellor to make such appointments in tribunals, covering the existing tribunals listed in Part 3 of Schedule 14 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and the new tribunals created by Part 1 of this Act. These appointments require the concurrence of the Senior President of Tribunals. Where it is proposed to appoint a person as a deputy judge of the Upper Tribunal, and that person holds or held an office listed in section 6(1), the Lord Chancellor must also consult the Lord Chief Justice. The general 2-year limit is disapplied in relation to former judges of the High Court and above (and equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland) being appointed as deputy judges of the Upper Tribunal.