Terms of Appointment
Section 32: Oath of allegiance and judicial oath
126.This section provides for every judge of the Supreme Court (which includes the President and Deputy President) to be required to take the oath of allegiance to the Sovereign and the Judicial Oath, as soon as may be after accepting that office. The required oaths are described in subsection (6) and are set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868. Separate provision is made for the taking of the oaths on appointment as President, Deputy President, and judge.
127.Subsection (1) requires the President to take the oaths in the presence of the Deputy President, or, if there is no Deputy President, the senior ordinary judge (“senior ordinary judge” being defined in section 60(3)(b)).
128.Subsection (2) requires the Deputy President to take the oaths in the presence of the President, or, if there is no President, the senior ordinary judge.
129.Subsection (3) provides that a judge of the Court (excluding the President and Deputy President – see subsection (5)) must take the oaths in the presence of the President, or, if there is no President, the Deputy President, or if there is no Deputy President, the senior ordinary judge.
130.Subsection (4) provides that the President and Deputy President are required to take the oaths in terms of subsections (1) and (2) whether or not the person appointed as President or Deputy President has previously taken the oaths after accepting another office. For example, a person appointed as President having previously served as Deputy President will be required to take the oaths on appointment as President even though he took them on appointment as Deputy President.
131.Subsection (5) provides that a judge of the Court who becomes a Supreme Court judge by virtue of his appointment directly to the Court as President or Deputy President does not have to take the oaths twice, by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) and of subsection (3) – that is to say, in those circumstances, the person appointed as President or Deputy President takes the oaths only once, on account of the appointment as President.
Section 33: Tenure
132.This section provides for the judges of the Supreme Court to hold office while they are of good behaviour, as is presently the case for Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. This is of course subject to the possibility of resignation, and the provision for retirement, set out in sections 35 and 36. (This provision does not apply to persons who, under section 38 of the Act, are acting judges of the Supreme Court. See section 38(5)(b).)
133.This section also provides, consistently with the position of all senior judicial office holders, that removal from office of any judge of the Supreme Court may only be effected following resolutions passed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Section 34: Salaries and allowances
134.This section provides for judges of the Supreme Court to receive a salary and allowance, detailing how the salary and allowance is to be determined and from where the salary and allowance is paid. It is in terms which reproduce the effect of the provisions governing these matters for Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
135.Subsection (1) states that a judge of the Supreme Court is entitled to a salary, and subsection (2) that the amount of the salary is to be determined by the Lord Chancellor with the agreement of the Treasury. Subsection (3) makes transitional provision to the effect that at the commencement of the provisions establishing the Supreme Court, the salaries of the first judges of the Supreme Court will remain the same as those received by them as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary immediately before commencement. Subsection (4) provides for these salaries, consistently with other judicial salaries, to be capable of being increased but not reduced.
136.Subsection (5) provides that the salary will be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.
137.Subsection (6) provides that the Lord Chancellor may determine, in agreement with the Treasury, an allowance to be paid to a judge of the Court, which will be paid out of money provided Parliament. This is in addition to the judicial salary, to provide flexibility.
Section 35: Resignation and retirement
138.This section makes provision for the resignation or retirement of judges of the Supreme Court.
139.Under subsection (1) any judge of the Supreme Court (including the President and Deputy President) may at any time resign from that office. Resignation is effected by giving notice in writing to the Lord Chancellor.
140.Subsection (2) makes separate provision for resignation from the office of President or Deputy President. The holder may so resign without resigning from the office of a judge of the Supreme Court. The resignation is again effected by giving notice in writing to the Lord Chancellor.
141.Subsection (3) amends section 26(4)(a) of, and Schedule 5 to, the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (retirement), so that references to “Judge of the Supreme Court” will be substituted for “Lord of Appeal in Ordinary”. The effect of this amendment is that the retirement age and associated provisions as to retirement which apply to Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will apply in the same way to judges of the Supreme Court.
Section 36: Medical Retirement
142.This section makes provision analogous to that for other senior judicial office holders for vacation of the office of a judge of the Supreme Court (including the President and Deputy President) on medical grounds.
143.Subsection (1) provides for the scope of the section: it applies if the Lord Chancellor is satisfied by means of a medical certificate that the person holding office as a judge of the Supreme Court is both disabled by permanent infirmity from performing his duties and for the time being is incapacitated from resigning from his office.
144.In such circumstances, subsection (2) enables the Lord Chancellor to declare the office of the person in question to be vacated (subject to the conditions in subsection (4)). Subsection (3) provides for this declaration to have effect as though the person in question had himself or herself resigned on the date of the declaration. Subsection (4) requires the Lord Chancellor, before making a declaration, to secure the agreement of the appropriate judges of the Supreme Court (depending on the office which would be vacated). Without that agreement, the declaration will have no effect. In the case of an ordinary judge (as defined in section 60(3)(a)), the agreement required is that of the President and Deputy President of the Court; in the case of the President, the agreement required is that of the Deputy President and the senior ordinary judge (as defined in section 60(3)(b)); and in the case of the Deputy President, the agreement required is that of the President and the senior ordinary judge.
Section 37: Pensions
145.Subsections (1) and (2) make amendments to the Judicial Pensions Act 1981 and Judicial Pensions and Retirements Act 1993 respectively, to substitute ‘Judge of the Supreme Court’ for ‘Lord of Appeal in Ordinary’. These amendments are to ensure that the pension provision currently enjoyed by the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will transfer over to the Justices of the Supreme Court, and that individual members of the Supreme Court who were previously Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will retain the pension benefits accrued in the former capacity and that those benefits will continue to accrue in the same way relative to their service as judges of the Supreme Court as they did relative to their service as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
146.Furthermore, subsection (3) provides that the amendments made to the 1981 and 1993 Acts do not affect the operation of any provision or anything done under a provision in relation to the office of, or service as, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. This ensures that any retired Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are not affected adversely by the changes to legislation.
