Lord Dyson, Master of the Rolls:: Are the judges too powerful? [2014] UKSpeech 82QG8 (13 March 2014)


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United Kingdom Judiciary Speeches
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Cite as: [2014] UKSpeech 82QG8

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Are the judges too powerful?



Mr Bentham was no great admirer of the judiciary. He once said “the same fungus, which when green, is made into Bar, is it not, when dry, made into Bench?” He distrusted the judges. When drafting a “New Plan for the organisation of the Judicial Establishment in France” in the 1820s, he was adamant that judges should not be permitted to legislate: “Appointed for the express purpose of enforcing obedience to the laws, their duty is to be foremost in obedience. Any attempt on the part of the judge to frustrate or unnecessarily to retard the efficacy of what he understands to have been the decided meaning of the legislature, shall be punished with forfeiture of his office.”

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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/other/speeches/2014/82QG8.html