January 2010 Unit 2 Questions

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January 2010 paper Section A - Question 1: The Judiciary The Judiciary is considered to be independent of the other two branches of government. Judges salaries are paid from the consolidated fund; this means that they do not have to be voted upon each year by Parliament. The House of Commons generally forbids MPs from making any reference to matters before the criminal and civil courts. By convention, a similar restriction is observed by ministers and civil servants. For their part, judges by convention do not engage in politically partisan activity, thus upholding their neutrality. Indeed, they have generally avoided commenting on matters of public policy. However, the dividing line between judges and politicians was never quite as sharp as these features would suggest. The most obvious example used to be found in the figure of the Lord Chancellor. Prior to the passage of the 2005 constitutional reform act, he was head of the judiciary, the presiding officer of the House of Lords and a member of the cabinet. The 2005 act, which also proposed the establishment of a new supreme court by 2009, changed this situation, providing for the transfer of his judicial role to the Lord Chief Justice. 1) a. With reference to the source, describe the measures that exist to maintain the independence and neutrality of the judiciary. (5 marks) b. With reference to the source, and your own knowledge, explain how the judiciary has been reformed since 2005. (10 marks) c. To what extent are the UK judges both independent and neutral? (25 marks) OR Question 2: Parliament White paper on reform of the House of Lords This white paper sets out the government’s proposals for a reformed second chamber of the UK parliament. The proposals are based on the House of Commons votes for an 80% or 100% elected second chamber and follow cross-party talks on how this could be achieved. The
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