The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. It is also the highest court of appeal (or court of last resort) for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies. It is simply referred to as the Privy Council, as appeals are in fact made to Her Majesty in Council who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for "advice". In Commonwealth republics, appeals are made directly to the Judicial Committee instead. In the case of Brunei, the appeal is made to the local Sultan, who is advised by the Judicial Committee. Formerly the Judicial Committee gave a single piece of advice, but since the 1960s dissenting opinions have been allowed. The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, is the highest court in that jurisdiction and functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be appealed. ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ...

The judicial system of the United Kingdom is unusual in having no single highest national court; the Judicial Committee is the highest court of appeal in some cases, while in most others the highest court of appeal is the House of Lords. In Scotland the highest court in criminal cases is the High Court of Justiciary, in civil cases the House of Lords, and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for matters arising from Scottish devolution. The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, has a judicial function as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. ... Seal of the High Court of Justiciary © Crown Copyright The High Court of Justiciary is Scotlands supreme criminal court. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... Devolution or home rule is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a state to government at national, regional or local level. ...

Domestic jurisdiction

The Privy Council has jurisdiction in the following domestic matters:

• The Crown Dependencies of the Jersey, Guernsey and appeals from the Staff of Government Division from the Isle of Man
• Cases involving devolution issues arising under the Scotland Act 1998, the Government of Wales Act 1998 or the Northern Ireland Act 1998, i.e. disputes regarding the validity of acts of the Scottish Parliament or the functions of the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly or the Northern Ireland Assembly. The cases may reach the Committee as follows:
  • The Attorney-General or other Law Officers may refer a bill from the devolved body to the Committee.
  • The litigants may appeal a case from certain superior courts.
  • Appellate courts, including the House of Lords, may refer a case to the Committee.
  • Any court, if a Law Officer so desires, may refer a case to the Committee.
  • Law Officers may refer any issue not related to a bill or case to the Committee.
• Appeals from the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and of the General Medical Council
• Appeals against schemes of the Church Commissioners (who control the estate of the Church of England).
• Appeals from the ecclesiastical courts (the Arches Court of Canterbury and the Chancery Court of York) in non-doctrinal faculty cases.
• Appeals from the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports.
• Appeals from Prize Courts.
• Disputes under the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975.

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will transfer the devolution powers to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when it comes into force. The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, France, in the English Channel. ... The Staff of Government Division is the Court of Appeal in the Isle of Man. ... The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster. ... The Government of Wales Act, 1998 (1998 c. ... The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is part of the Labour governments constitutional reform programme. ... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... The Executives logo, shown with English and Scottish Gaelic caption The term Scottish Executive is used in two different, but closely-related senses: to denote the executive arm of Scotlands national legislature (i. ... The National Assembly for Wales (or NAW) (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was established in 1998, following a 1997 referendum in which a small majority of voters (but not the electorate) voted in favour of the Labour Governments plans for devolution. ... The logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly is a six flowered linen or flax plant, chosen for the plants historical economic importance to the region. ... The Law Officers of the Crown are the chief legal advisors to the Crown, and advise and represent the various governments in the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... An ecclesiastical court (also called Court Christian) is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. ... The Arches Court, presided over by the Dean of Arches is an ecclesiastical court of the Church of England covering the Province of Canterbury. ... Flag of the Cinque Ports Formally, in Kent and Sussex there are five Head Ports making up the Confederation of the Cinque Ports, often pronounced as the anglicised sink ports, and meaning five ports (cinque in French means five and ports is to be connected to the Italian word porto... The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 was an Act of the British Parliament which prohibited certain groups of people from becoming members of the House of Commons. ... Bold textLodgey makes out with stephanie The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (2005 c. ... The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom will be created under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 to take over the judicial functions of the Law Lords in the House of Lords and from the Judicial committee of the Privy Council. ...

Additionally, the Government may (through the Queen) refer any issue to the committee for a report. These limited matters of domestic jurisdiction, however, do not alter the principle that the case law of the JCPC is not part of English common law, given that its appellate jurisdiction in Commonwealth judicial hierarchies was exercised in effect as an ad hoc domestic tribunal in the relevant Commonwealth country.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Her Majesty in Council, is the Court of Final Appeal for the Church of England, and which replaced the Court of Delegates in 1833 . It hears appeals from the Arches Court of Canterbury and the Chancery Court of York, except on matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremony, which go to the Court for Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved. By the Church Discipline Act 1840 and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishop and bishops were eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... The Arches Court, presided over by the Dean of Arches is an ecclesiastical court of the Church of England covering the Province of Canterbury. ... The Chancery Court of York is an ecclesiastical court for the Province of York of the Church of England. ... The Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved, an ecclesiastical court, is an appellate court of the Church of England. ...

Overseas jurisdiction

The Committee holds jurisdiction in appeals from the following 27 jurisdictions (including 14 independent nations):

Appeal is "to Her Majesty in Council" from 9 independent nations and 13 other jurisdictions:

• The Commonwealth Realms of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu.
• The New Zealand associated states of Cook Islands and Niue (though New Zealand itself established a Supreme Court of New Zealand in January 2004, replacing the Privy Council for appeals originating within New Zealand).
• The United Kingdom Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena and dependencies, Turks and Caicos Islands, Pitcairn Islands.
• The United Kingdom's Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus.
• (Australia still technically has the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as its court of last resort, see below)

Appeal is directly to the Committee from four countries: The Commonwealth Realms, shown in pink A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth of Nations that separately recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The UK Sovereign Base Areas are those British military base areas located in countries formerly ruled by the United Kingdom which were retained by it and not handed over when those countries attained independence. ...

• The Commonwealth republics of Dominica, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and if the case involves constitutional rights Kiribati.

Appeal is to the Sultan in The Commonwealth republics, shown in pink A Commonwealth republic is any one of the 31 sovereign states of the Commonwealth of Nations that have a republican form of government. ...

• Brunei. (The Queen and the Sultan have agreed that the Judicial Committee hears the case and reports to the Sultan.)

Members

The Judicial Committee includes the following:

• The Lord Chancellor
• Former Lord Chancellors
• Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (who also serve in the House of Lords, known as 'Law Lords')
• Other Lords of Appeal
• Privy Councillors who are or were judges of the Court of Appeal of England, the Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland or the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland
• Privy Councillors who are judges of certain superior courts in Commonwealth nations

The bulk of the work is done by the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who are paid to work full time on the judicial functions of the House of Lords and the Privy Council. Overseas judges may not sit when certain domestic matters are being heard, and overseas judges will often sit when appeals from their countries are being heard. This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... The Court of Session is the supreme civil court in Scotland. ... The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, has a judicial function as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. ...

Registrars of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

• Mary Macdonald 2005-
• John Watherston 1998-2005
• DHO Owen 1983-1998
• Eric Mills, BA Cambridge Barrister-at-Law Inner Temple 1966-1983
• Leslie Upton, CBE Barrister-at-Law Gray's Inn JP 1963-1966
• Aylmer Paterson 1954-1963
• Colin Smith, MVO OBE c.38
• George Faber 1887-1896

A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University, or just Cambridge), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England, to which barristers belong and where they are called to the Bar. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are... Entrance to Grays Inn Grays Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England to which barristers belong and where they are called to the bar. ... JP may refer to: Japan, ISO country code The Japanese language Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston Chat slang for just playing, a relative of just kidding The postnominal letters for a justice of the peace (magistrate) Abbreviation for Joint Post, mainly used for people who participate in online... Victoria founded the Royal Victorian Order. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are...

The decline of Commonwealth Appeals

Initially, all Commonwealth Realms and their territories maintained a right of appeal to the Privy Council. Many of those that became republics or independent indigenous monarchies preserved the Privy Council's jurisdiction by entering into treaties with the British Crown. However, over time many members began to see the Privy Council as being out of tune with local values, and an obstacle to full judicial sovereignty. The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ... The Commonwealth Realms, shown in pink A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth of Nations that separately recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch. ...

• Australia effectively abolished the right of appeal from the Commonwealth Courts by the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968 and the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975, and from the State courts by the Australia Act 1986. The Australian constitution still has a provision requiring the leave of the High Court of Australia for appeal to the Privy Council on certain matters, so theoretically the High Court could still grant leave on those restricted subjects. However, the High Court has stated that it will not give such permission, so the possibility is purely theoretical.
• Canada created its Supreme Court in 1875 and abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal cases. However, in Nadan v. The King [1926] AC 482(PC) the Privy Council nevertheless granted an appellant leave to appeal a criminal conviction and ruled that the Canadian Criminal Code was ultra vires the Canadian Parliament because it purported to legislate extraterritorially and purported to repeal imperial legislation. This together with the King-Byng Affair was a major irritant for Canada and provoked the discussion at the 1926 Imperial Conference which led to the Balfour Declaration. With that Declaration and its statutory confirmation in the Statute of Westminster 1931 (Imp) the impediment to abolishing the Privy Council appeal, whether or not it had been legitimate, was comprehensively removed. Criminal appeals to the Privy Council were ended in 1933. Moves to extend the abolition to civil matters were shelved during the growing international crisis of the 1930s but re-tabled after World War II and civil appeals ended in 1949. Cases begun before 1949 were still allowed to appeal after 1949 and the final case to make it to the Council was not until 1959 with the case of Ponoka-Calmar Oils v. Wakefield, [1960] A.C. 18. The JCPC played a controversial role in the evolution of Canadian federalism. Further Canadian First Nations argue they still retain the right to appeal to the Privy Council because their treaties predate their relationship to Canada.
• Hong Kong's court system was changed after the 1997 handover to People's Republic of China. Appeal cases originally going to the Privy Council now go to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
• New Zealand law was changed in October 2003 amid considerable controversy (as the government decided not to call a referendum on the issue) to abolish appeals to the Privy Council in respect of all cases heard by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand after the end of 2003, in favour of a Supreme Court of New Zealand.
• Malaysia abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal and constitutional matters in 1978 and in civil matters in 1985.
• Singapore abolished Privy Council appeals in all cases save those involving the death penalty or in civil cases where the parties had agreed to such a right of appeal in 1989. The remaining rights of appeal were abolished in 1994.

• The nations of the Caribbean Community voted in 2001 to abolish the right of appeal to the Privy Council in favour of a Caribbean Court of Justice. Some debate between member countries had repeatedly delayed the court's date of inauguration. As of March, 2005, only Barbados was set to replace the process of appeals of Her Majesty in Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice which then had come into operation. The republic of Guyana also enacted local legislation allowing the CCJ to have jurisdiction over their sovereign final court of appeals system. As it stands, no other CARICOM states appear to be ready for the abolition of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the immediate future. The government of Jamaica in particular, came close and attempted to abolish appeals to the Judicial Committee without the support of the opposition in parliament, however it was ruled that the procedure used to bypass the opposition was incorrect and unconstitutional.

Australia Act 1986 (United Kingdom) document, located in Parliament House, Canberra The Australia Act 1986 (No. ... High Court entrance The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal in Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. ... The Supreme Court Building in Ottawa The Supreme Court of Canada (French: Cour suprême du Canada) is highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal for all litigants in the Canadian justice system. ... Ultra vires is a Latin phrase that literally means beyond the power. ... Mackenzie King requested a dissolution of Parliament The King-Byng Affair was a 1926 Canadian constitutional crisis that occurred when the Governor General of Canada, Lord Byng of Vimy, refused a request by the Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to dissolve parliament and call a general election. ... The Balfour Declaration of 1926 is a report of the October-November 1926 Imperial Conference of British Empire leaders in London. ... The Statute of Westminster 1931 was the enactment of the United Kingdom Parliament (December 11, 1931) which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom. ... Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group or body of members are bound together (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. ... First Nations is a term of ethnicity used in Canada. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Court of Final Appeal usually refers to the last court in which one can appeal cases brought before the highest level. ... The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the highest court of appeal in New Zealand, having formally come into existence at the beginning of 2004, and sitting for the first time on 1 July 2004. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The Caribbean Community and Common Market or CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas[1] which came into effect on August 1, 1973. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is a regional Caribbean-based institution in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Constitutional Reform Act 2005
• List of Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases

Bold textLodgey makes out with stephanie The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (2005 c. ... This list is of all major cases decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. ...

External links

• Privy Council Office site, including JCPC
• The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Canadian Constitution
• Text of the Scotland Act 1998