Judicial independence is generally understood as requiring that judges must be insulated from political life. The central claim of this work is that far from standing apart from the political realm, judicial independence is a product of it. It is defined and protected through interactions between judges and politicians. In short, judicial independence is a political achievement. This is the main conclusion of a three-year research project on the major changes introduced by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, and the consequences for judicial independence and accountability. The authors...

What should be the primary goals of a judicial appointments system? When will the judiciary be sufficiently diverse? Why is it taking so long? Is it time for positive action? Who does (and should) appoint our judges?

There is broad agreement that diversity raises important questions for a legal system and its officials, but there is much less agreement about the full implications of recognising diversity as an important goal of the judicial appointments regime and differences of opinion as to the method, form, timing and motivations for diversity. On the tenth anniversary...