Constitutional Reform Act 2005

The statute creating the United Kingdom Supreme Court and modernizing the judiciary

Overview

The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 severed the apex of the judiciary from the House of Lords, creating a United Kingdom Supreme Court that opened in 2009, and recast the ancient office of Lord Chancellor, transferring its judicial functions to a new Lord Chief Justice. The act entrenched judicial independence as a constitutional principle for the first time in statute. It is the largest restructuring of British justice in over a century. The first justices of the new court took their seats in October 2009 across Parliament Square.