Rethinking the merit principle in judicial selection

Journal of Law and Society

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 126-140

  Malleson, Kate ^a  

^a QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33645153329     PISSN: 0263323X     EISSN: 14676478     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2006.00351.x     Document Type: Article

References (25)

1. Lord Lloyd of Berwick, evidence to the Constitutional Affairs Committee, First Report, Inquiry into the Provisions of the Constitutional Reform Bill, 2003-4, HC 48-II.
2. The main arguments in support of a more diverse judiciary focus on the damaging effect that the current make-up of the bench has on public confidence, the loss of potential judicial talent through the absence of well-qualified lawyers from nontraditional backgrounds, and the danger that those appearing before the courts will feel they are being judged by a society to which they do not belong. See, for example, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Increasing Diversity in the Judiciary (October 2004) 14
3. and C. Banner and A. Deane, Off with their Wigs (2003) 129-37.
4. T. Sowell, Affirmative Action Around the World (2004) 2.
5. See C. Burton, Redefining Merit (1988);
6. F. Holloway, 'What is Affirmative Action?' in Affirmative Action in Perspective, eds. F. Blanchard and F. Crosby (1989) 9-19.
7. See, for example, Sir Thomas Legg, 'Judicial Appointments and a Supreme Court', written evidence to the Constitutional Affairs Committee, op. cit., n. 1, para. 8.
8. A. Phillips, The Politics of Presence (1995) 58, See, in relation to the use of quotas in the judiciary,
9. Banner and Deane, op. cit., n. 2, pp. 129-37
10. S. Kentridge, 'The Highest Court: Selecting the Judges' (2003) 62 Cambridge Law J. 55.
11. See A. McHarg, 'Quotas for Women! The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002' in this issue, pp. 141-59.
12. Lord Taylor, The Judiciary in the Nineties, Richard Dimbleby Lecture (1992) 9.
13. Lord Justice Auld, Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales (2001) para. 84.
14. K. Malleson and C. Thomas, Judicial Appointments Commissions: The European and North American Experiences and the Possible Implications for the UK (1997).
15. The 'trickle-up' approach is based on the expectation that the changing composition of the legal profession will naturally and automatically result in much greater numbers of women and minority lawyers being appointed to the bench. See Commission for Judicial Appointments, Annual Report (2003) 4.
16. See, for example, evidence given to Constitutional Affairs Committee, op. cit., n. 1.
17. See K. Malleson and P. Russell, Appointing Judges in an Age of Judicial Power: Critical Perspectives From Around the World (2005).
18. The inclusion of two disabled members of the South African Constitutional Court is explicitly identified in South Africa as an example of the high level of diversity awareness in the judicial selection process.
19. Constitutional Reform Act 2005 s. 27(8).
20. See, for example, evidence given to the Constitutional Affairs Committee, op. cit., n. 1.
21. Sowell, op. cit., n. 3, pp. 2-7.
22. See, for example, Burton, op. cit., n. 4, p. 1.
23. See, for example, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Increasing Diversity in the Judiciary, Responses to the DCA Consultation Paper CP 25/04 (2005).
24. See id. and evidence given to the Constitutional Affairs Committee, op. cit., n. 1.
25. A term used by a judge to describe his career path from an elite chambers to the bench. See K. Malleson and F. Banda, Factors Affecting the Decision to Apply for Silk and Judicial Office (2000) 29.