For these reasons, the Appeals Committee fell into disrepute among better-informed lawyers and judges in the colonies. In 1833, at the instigation of Lord Brougham, the Lord Chancellor, Parliament passed the Judicial Committee Act 1833.
By the Church Discipline Act 1840 and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishops and bishops of the Church of England became eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee. Prior to the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Privy Council was the court of last resort for devolution issues.
The Chamber, designed by John Soane, was often criticised for its interior design, and was extensively remodelled in 1845 by Sir Charles Barry.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Despite this, some decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada went on to appeal in the JCPC, including notably the Persons Case (Edwards v Canada (AG)), which affirmed that women had always been "qualified persons" under the British North America Act, 1867 (Canada's Constitution) eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada.
While a few commentators have suggested that Canadian First Nations retain the right to appeal to the Privy Council because their treaties predate their relationship to Canada, the JCPC has not entertained any such appeal since 1867 and the dominant view is that no such appeal right exists. ===Caribbean Community=== 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 (CCJ).
However, the High Court has stated that it will not give such permission, that the jurisdiction to do so "has long since been spent", and that it is obsolete. ===Canada=== Canada created its own Supreme Court in 1875 and abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal cases in 1933.
By the Church Discipline Act 1840 and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishops and bishops of the Church of England became eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee. Prior to the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Privy Council was the court of last resort for devolution issues.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Appeals from state courts, a continuation of the right to appeal decisions of colonial courts before 1901, continued, until they were also abolished by the Australia Act 1986, which was enacted by both the UK and Australian parliaments, on the request of all the state governments.
Owen, 1983–1998 John Watherston, 1998–2005 Mary Macdonald, 2005–2010 Louise di Mambro, 2011–present Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. == Procedure == Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "Her Majesty in Council".
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Moves to extend the abolition to civil matters were shelved during the growing international crisis of the 1930s but re-tabled after the Second World War, and civil appeals ended in 1949, with an amendment of the Supreme Court Act.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council itself ruled that the Irish Free State Government had that right under the Statute of Westminster 1931 (Imp.). ===Jamaica=== In May 2015, the Jamaican House of Representatives approved, with the necessary two-thirds majority, bills to end legal appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and make the Caribbean Court of Justice Jamaica's final court of appeal.
22) Act 1933 || Supreme Court || The 1937 constitution renamed the state Ireland on 29 December 1937 and reconstituted the Supreme Court from 29 September 1961.
However, the High Court has stated that it will not give such permission, that the jurisdiction to do so "has long since been spent", and that it is obsolete. ===Canada=== Canada created its own Supreme Court in 1875 and abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal cases in 1933.
Criminal appeals to the Privy Council were ended in 1933.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
22) Act 1933 || Supreme Court || The 1937 constitution renamed the state Ireland on 29 December 1937 and reconstituted the Supreme Court from 29 September 1961.
Overseas judges may not sit when certain UK domestic matters are being heard, but will often sit when appeals from their own countries are being heard. === Registrars === Henry Reeve, 1853–1887 Denison Faber, 1st Baron Wittenham, 1887–1896 Sir Thomas Raleigh, 1896–1899 Edward Stanley Hope, KCB, 1899–1909 Sir Charles Henry Lawrence Neish KBE CB, 1909–1934 Colin Smith MVO OBE, 1934–1940 Lieutenant-Colonel John Dallas Waters, CB, DSO, 1940–1954 Aylmer J.
Previously, the Privy Council had ruled in Ibralebbe v The Queen that it remained the highest court of appeal in Ceylon notwithstanding the country's independence as a Dominion in 1948. ===The Gambia=== The Gambia retained the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council under the Gambia Independence Act 1964, even after The Gambia became a Commonwealth republic in April 1970 under Sir Dawda Jawara.
Canada abolished Privy Council appeals in 1949, India and South Africa in 1950, and New Zealand in 2003.
Ireland left the Commonwealth on 18 April 1949 when the Republic of Ireland was declared. |- ||| 1949 ||Newfoundland Act, 12, 13 & 14 Geo.
22 ||Supreme Court|| |- ||| 1949 ||An Act to Amend the Supreme Court Act, S.C.
Moves to extend the abolition to civil matters were shelved during the growing international crisis of the 1930s but re-tabled after the Second World War, and civil appeals ended in 1949, with an amendment of the Supreme Court Act.
Canada abolished Privy Council appeals in 1949, India and South Africa in 1950, and New Zealand in 2003.
In 2008, Prime Minister John Key ruled out any abolition of the Supreme Court and return to the Privy Council. However, judgment on the last appeal from New Zealand to be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was not delivered until 3 March 2015. ===Pakistan=== The Dominion of Pakistan retained the right of appeal to the Privy Council from the Federal Court of Pakistan until the Privy Council (Abolition of Jurisdiction) Act, 1950 was passed.
Paterson, 1954–1963 Leslie Upton CBE, 1963–1966 Eric Mills, 1966–1983 D.
22) Act 1933 || Supreme Court || The 1937 constitution renamed the state Ireland on 29 December 1937 and reconstituted the Supreme Court from 29 September 1961.
Paterson, 1954–1963 Leslie Upton CBE, 1963–1966 Eric Mills, 1966–1983 D.
Previously, the Privy Council had ruled in Ibralebbe v The Queen that it remained the highest court of appeal in Ceylon notwithstanding the country's independence as a Dominion in 1948. ===The Gambia=== The Gambia retained the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council under the Gambia Independence Act 1964, even after The Gambia became a Commonwealth republic in April 1970 under Sir Dawda Jawara.
Paterson, 1954–1963 Leslie Upton CBE, 1963–1966 Eric Mills, 1966–1983 D.
Formerly, the Judicial Committee could only give a unanimous report, but since the Judicial Committee (Dissenting Opinions) Order 1966, dissenting opinions have been allowed. The Judicial Committee is not bound by its own previous decisions, but may depart from them in exceptional circumstances if following its previous decisions would be unjust or contrary to public policy. == Location == The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is based in London.
The right of appeal from federal courts (including territory supreme courts) was abolished through the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968.
Previously, the Privy Council had ruled in Ibralebbe v The Queen that it remained the highest court of appeal in Ceylon notwithstanding the country's independence as a Dominion in 1948. ===The Gambia=== The Gambia retained the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council under the Gambia Independence Act 1964, even after The Gambia became a Commonwealth republic in April 1970 under Sir Dawda Jawara.
At the end of the sitting, Lord Hope indicated that there may be future sittings of the Committee in the Bahamas, and the Committee has indeed sat in the Bahamas again, in 2009. The 2018 Antiguan constitutional referendum saw the proposal to replace the JCPC with the CCJ rejected by a 52.04% majority. ===Sri Lanka (Ceylon)=== Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, abolished appeals to the Privy Council in the Court of Appeal Act, 1971, which came into effect on 15 November 1971.
The remaining rights of appeal were abolished in April 1994. One notable case in Singapore where an appeal against the death sentence was allowed by the Privy Council was a murder case that occurred in Pulau Ubin between 22 and 23 April 1972.
The Jamaican Labour Party, which opposed the changes, won the election and has promised to hold a referendum on the issue. ===Malaysia=== Malaysia abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal and constitutional matters in 1978, and in civil matters in 1985. ===New Zealand=== New Zealand was the last of the original Dominions to remove appeals to the Privy Council from its legal system.
Gambia Civil Aviation Authority and Others UKPC 39 (15 September 1998). ===Grenada=== Grenadian appeals to the Privy Council were temporarily abolished from 1979 until 1991, as a result of the Grenadian Revolution, which brought Prime Minister Maurice Bishop to power.
Proposals to abolish appeals to the Privy Council in New Zealand were first put forward in the early 1980s. In October 2003, with respect to all cases heard by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, New Zealand law was changed to abolish appeals to the Privy Council, after the end of 2003.
Owen, 1983–1998 John Watherston, 1998–2005 Mary Macdonald, 2005–2010 Louise di Mambro, 2011–present Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. == Procedure == Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "Her Majesty in Council".
In 1985, Mitchell v DPP affirmed Grenada's right to unilaterally abolish appeals to the Privy Council.
The Jamaican Labour Party, which opposed the changes, won the election and has promised to hold a referendum on the issue. ===Malaysia=== Malaysia abolished appeals to the Privy Council in criminal and constitutional matters in 1978, and in civil matters in 1985. ===New Zealand=== New Zealand was the last of the original Dominions to remove appeals to the Privy Council from its legal system.
Appeals from state courts, a continuation of the right to appeal decisions of colonial courts before 1901, continued, until they were also abolished by the Australia Act 1986, which was enacted by both the UK and Australian parliaments, on the request of all the state governments.
Gambia Civil Aviation Authority and Others UKPC 39 (15 September 1998). ===Grenada=== Grenadian appeals to the Privy Council were temporarily abolished from 1979 until 1991, as a result of the Grenadian Revolution, which brought Prime Minister Maurice Bishop to power.
In 1991, Grenada restored the JCPC's jurisdiction. In 2016, there was a proposal in the 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum to terminate appeals from Grenada to the JCPC and to replace the JCPC with the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Appeals were still taken to the JCPC from 1994 to 1998, when Yahya Jammeh, the then dictator and President of the Gambia decided to restructure the Gambian judiciary under the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia to replace the JCPC with the Supreme Court of the Gambia. The last case from The Gambia to the JCPC was West Coast Air Limited v.
The remaining rights of appeal were abolished in April 1994. One notable case in Singapore where an appeal against the death sentence was allowed by the Privy Council was a murder case that occurred in Pulau Ubin between 22 and 23 April 1972.
Appeals were still taken to the JCPC from 1994 to 1998, when Yahya Jammeh, the then dictator and President of the Gambia decided to restructure the Gambian judiciary under the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia to replace the JCPC with the Supreme Court of the Gambia. The last case from The Gambia to the JCPC was West Coast Air Limited v.
Such decisions were not binding on the courts in Hong Kong under the doctrine of precedent before 1 July 1997 and are not binding today.
Decisions of the House of Lords before 1 July 1997 stand in a similar position.
Owen, 1983–1998 John Watherston, 1998–2005 Mary Macdonald, 2005–2010 Louise di Mambro, 2011–present Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. == Procedure == Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "Her Majesty in Council".
Appeals were still taken to the JCPC from 1994 to 1998, when Yahya Jammeh, the then dictator and President of the Gambia decided to restructure the Gambian judiciary under the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia to replace the JCPC with the Supreme Court of the Gambia. The last case from The Gambia to the JCPC was West Coast Air Limited v.
Gambia Civil Aviation Authority and Others UKPC 39 (15 September 1998). ===Grenada=== Grenadian appeals to the Privy Council were temporarily abolished from 1979 until 1991, as a result of the Grenadian Revolution, which brought Prime Minister Maurice Bishop to power.
While a few commentators have suggested that Canadian First Nations retain the right to appeal to the Privy Council because their treaties predate their relationship to Canada, the JCPC has not entertained any such appeal since 1867 and the dominant view is that no such appeal right exists. ===Caribbean Community=== 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 (CCJ).
Canada abolished Privy Council appeals in 1949, India and South Africa in 1950, and New Zealand in 2003.
Proposals to abolish appeals to the Privy Council in New Zealand were first put forward in the early 1980s. In October 2003, with respect to all cases heard by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, New Zealand law was changed to abolish appeals to the Privy Council, after the end of 2003.
By the Church Discipline Act 1840 and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishops and bishops of the Church of England became eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee. Prior to the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Privy Council was the court of last resort for devolution issues.
Owen, 1983–1998 John Watherston, 1998–2005 Mary Macdonald, 2005–2010 Louise di Mambro, 2011–present Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. == Procedure == Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "Her Majesty in Council".
Between 2005 and 2010 it sat twice in Mauritius and three times in the Bahamas. ==Decline in Commonwealth appeals== Initially, all Commonwealth realms and their territories maintained a right of appeal to the Privy Council.
As of 2005, Barbados replaced the process of appeals to Her Majesty in Council with the CCJ, which had then come into operation.
During an interview Lord Phillips was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that "'in an ideal world' Commonwealth countries—including those in the Caribbean—would stop using the Privy Council and set up their own final courts of appeal instead". On 18 December 2006, the Judicial Committee made history when for the first time in more than 170 years it ventured outside London, holding a five-day sitting in the Bahamas.
On 1 October 2009, the Judicial Committee moved to the former Middlesex Guildhall building, which had been refurbished in 2007 to provide a home for both the JCPC and the newly created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Lords Bingham, Brown, Carswell, and Scott, and Baroness Hale of Richmond, travelled to the Bahamas for the special sitting at the invitation of Dame Joan Sawyer, then the President of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas; the Committee returned to the Bahamas in December 2007 for a second sitting.
In 2008, Prime Minister John Key ruled out any abolition of the Supreme Court and return to the Privy Council. However, judgment on the last appeal from New Zealand to be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was not delivered until 3 March 2015. ===Pakistan=== The Dominion of Pakistan retained the right of appeal to the Privy Council from the Federal Court of Pakistan until the Privy Council (Abolition of Jurisdiction) Act, 1950 was passed.
The Judicial Committee also retains jurisdiction over a small number of domestic matters in the United Kingdom, reduced by the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009. == Jurisdiction == ===Domestic jurisdiction=== The United Kingdom does not have a 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 Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
On 1 October 2009 this jurisdiction was transferred to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. ==== Authority of Privy Council decisions in domestic British courts ==== Judgments of the Judicial Committee are not generally binding on courts within the United Kingdom, having only persuasive authority, but are binding on all courts within any other Commonwealth country from which an appeal is heard.
From its establishment to 2009, it mainly met in the Privy Council Chamber in Downing Street, although increase in the Judicial Committee's business in the twentieth century required it to sit simultaneously in several panels, which met elsewhere.
On 1 October 2009, the Judicial Committee moved to the former Middlesex Guildhall building, which had been refurbished in 2007 to provide a home for both the JCPC and the newly created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
At the end of the sitting, Lord Hope indicated that there may be future sittings of the Committee in the Bahamas, and the Committee has indeed sat in the Bahamas again, in 2009. The 2018 Antiguan constitutional referendum saw the proposal to replace the JCPC with the CCJ rejected by a 52.04% majority. ===Sri Lanka (Ceylon)=== Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, abolished appeals to the Privy Council in the Court of Appeal Act, 1971, which came into effect on 15 November 1971.
Between 2005 and 2010 it sat twice in Mauritius and three times in the Bahamas. ==Decline in Commonwealth appeals== Initially, all Commonwealth realms and their territories maintained a right of appeal to the Privy Council.
Belize acceded to the Appellate Jurisdiction of the CCJ on 1 June 2010.
Owen, 1983–1998 John Watherston, 1998–2005 Mary Macdonald, 2005–2010 Louise di Mambro, 2011–present Until 1904 the Registrar of the Admiralty court was also Registrar to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in ecclesiastical and maritime causes. == Procedure == Most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are formally appeals to "Her Majesty in Council".
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council itself ruled that the Irish Free State Government had that right under the Statute of Westminster 1931 (Imp.). ===Jamaica=== In May 2015, the Jamaican House of Representatives approved, with the necessary two-thirds majority, bills to end legal appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and make the Caribbean Court of Justice Jamaica's final court of appeal.
In 2008, Prime Minister John Key ruled out any abolition of the Supreme Court and return to the Privy Council. However, judgment on the last appeal from New Zealand to be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was not delivered until 3 March 2015. ===Pakistan=== The Dominion of Pakistan retained the right of appeal to the Privy Council from the Federal Court of Pakistan until the Privy Council (Abolition of Jurisdiction) Act, 1950 was passed.
In 1991, Grenada restored the JCPC's jurisdiction. In 2016, there was a proposal in the 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum to terminate appeals from Grenada to the JCPC and to replace the JCPC with the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The 2016 general election was called before the reforms could be brought to the Senate for a final vote.
At the end of the sitting, Lord Hope indicated that there may be future sittings of the Committee in the Bahamas, and the Committee has indeed sat in the Bahamas again, in 2009. The 2018 Antiguan constitutional referendum saw the proposal to replace the JCPC with the CCJ rejected by a 52.04% majority. ===Sri Lanka (Ceylon)=== Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, abolished appeals to the Privy Council in the Court of Appeal Act, 1971, which came into effect on 15 November 1971.
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