The Role of Courts in a Democracy: A Debate

Friday 11th February 2011, 3.00pm-4.30pm

Magdalen College Auditorium, Longwall Street, Oxford

 

In this public debate, recorded before a live audience and chaired by Joshua Rozenberg, a panel of leading academics, judges, and policymakers debated the proper role of courts in a democracy, and assessed whether the model of judicial supremacy is a desirable or inevitable one for the UK.

The debate examined the growing trend towards the ‘judicialisation of politics’, in which judges are increasingly implicated in settling policy disputes, especially in the context of constitutional rights.  Critics point out that rights jurisdiction tends to make judges supreme in the policy process, thereby undermining the underlying basis of democracy (popular sovereignty). Questions that were addressed included:

• Will the trend towards the judicialisation of politics affect the UK? And is the creation of the UK Supreme Court a giant step in this direction?
• Does "governing with judges" actually make parliamentary governance and policy-making better? 
• Are there any circumstances in which elected political authorities ought to nullify or ignore domestic judicial rulings, and if so, could they also ignore the European Court of Human Rights’ rulings?
• How will these developments affect the balance of powers in the UK in the future?

 Following an academic workshop on 10th February, the public were invited to participate on Friday 11th February at the public debate. Here, a panel of leading judges, academics, and policymakers framed the arguments, before the audience were invited to cast their vote to identify the popular view on the role of courts and objectives for constitutional reform.

Participants included:

Joshua Rozenberg, BBC Presenter and Legal Commentator (Chairperson)

Rt Hon. Charles Clarke, former Home Secretary and Visiting Professor, School of Political, Social and International Studies at UEA

Richard Bellamy, Professor of Political Science and Director, School of Public Policy at UCL

 

A full workshop programme is available at www.fljs.org/Courts. For further details, please contact the convener, Dr Cristina Parau.