Examination of Witnesses (Questions 200
- 203)
TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2003
RT HON
LADY JUSTICE
HALE DBE
Q200 Ross Cranston: Does that mean
that this has to be written into the legislation because otherwise
the Judicial Appointments Commission might go off and do whatever?
Lady Justice Hale: It seems to
me unlikely that it would, but I can see the merits of putting
certain aspirations into the remit of the Commission. The Judges'
Council has quite a good pair of aspirations: maintaining independence
and quality but increasing diversity.
Ross Cranston: The evidence so far from
the Scottish Appointments Commission is that the appointments
that have been made are in exactly the same mould as in the past.
Q201 Chairman: I am not sure the
report says that.
Lady Justice Hale: I cannot comment
on whether the experience will be repeated here and I do not know
enough about the Scottish system, but one of the features of the
Scottish system is how small it is. That is not disrespect, but
it is very small.
Q202 Ross Cranston: And there have
been very few appointments.
Lady Justice Hale: We have an
enormous system here, that is one of the reasons why the old system
will not work because it is so much harder to pick out the right
candidates and the best candidates when there are so many possibilities
even within the existing pool let alone if it were widened. The
other point I would like to try to emphasise is that a Judicial
Appointments Commission to my mind should have a very strong element
of people who know about how these things are done elsewhere in
the recruitment and appointment process.
Q203 Ross Cranston: You heard my
point earlier that this has not necessarily produced different
results in other areas.
Lady Justice Hale: I think it
could if there is the commitment to doing it. I think it would
be a good push in that direction. Dare I say this, we have not,
in fact, had any real danger of political bias in appointments
in my adult lifetime in England. There is a risk, it seems to
me, of a new system being too much under the control of the existing
senior judiciary. If you want diversity you have to have a strong
non-judicial element to attack this notion that we all know who
the best people are.
Chairman: On that very clear statement
I want to thank you very warmly and look forward to you coming
before us on other matters in the future.
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