The Institutional Relations and Relationships of the United Kingdom Final Court of Appeal; An empirical analysis of the UK's top courts 2007-2011

Abstract

This thesis conducts a systematic, empirical examination of each of the judgments that arose in the UK final court of appeal in the sessions 2007-2011, covering the transitional period between the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The aim of the thesis was to establish whether the institutional independence of the court, following the enactment of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, resulted in a more powerful court within the UK constitution. The relative power of the court was gauged by empirically reviewing each of the court's legal and political institutional relationships, together with the administrative efficiency of the court, across the transitional period. The study concludes that the Supreme Court appeared to be a more powerful and assertive institution than its predecessor. The conclusion also highlights the significant effect that the influence of the European Convention of Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights appeared to have on the court's institutional relationships and its administrative efficiency in the time period.