The UK Supreme Court - A Fine New Vintage, or Just a Smart New Label on a Dusty Old Bottle?

Abstract

The machinery of UK governance, including many aspects of the legal system, has undergone a lot of important changes in the last decade or so. Some of these changes have been driven by 'New Public Management' ideas about the need to increase 'efficiency, effectiveness and economy', to sharpen public accountability and to improve the quality of customer service in the administration of justice - as has been happening with other parts of the public service sector. Some important reforms (notably devolution of functions to elected administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998) have been parts of a wider political agenda of modernising Britain's antiquated 'unwritten' constitution. Some of the most senior judges themselves, a category of office holder once regarded as doctrinally opposed to any kind of radical change, have become articulate champions of reform and have carved out new, high profile managerial roles for themselves, as well as becoming markedly more 'activist' in the public law and human rights arena when sitting on the Bench.