Select Committees and public appointments
Select Committees and public appointments

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Liaison Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-09-05

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 9780215561244

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This report considers the experience of some three years of holding 'pre-appointment' hearings by select committees to examine the 'preferred candidate' for certain public appointments before that appointment is confirmed. Whilst the committee considers the experiment a success they do recommend a number of changes. They propose a three tier list: Posts in the first tier are those considered to be of sufficient constitutional significance as to require a process which is effectively a joint appointment by Government and the House of Commons. Posts in the second tier are those which the committee proposes should be subject to an enhanced an improved version of the current process, and which should be subject to an 'effective veto' by the House of Commons or its committees. For posts in the third tier, pre-appointment hearings should be at the discretion of committees.

Women, Judging and the Judiciary
Women, Judging and the Judiciary

Author: Erika Rackley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0415548616

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Awarded the 2013 Birks Book Prize by the Society of Legal Scholars, Women, Judging and the Judiciary expertly examines debates about gender representation in the judiciary and the importance of judicial diversity. It offers a fresh look at the role of the (woman) judge and the process of judging and provides a new analysis of the assumptions which underpin and constrain debates about why we might want a more diverse judiciary, and how we might get one. Through a theoretical engagement with the concepts of diversity and difference in adjudication, Women, Judging and the Judiciary contends that prevailing images of the judge are enmeshed in notions of sameness and uniformity: images which are so familiar that their grip on our understandings of the judicial role are routinely overlooked. Failing to confront these instinctive images of the judge and of judging, however, comes at a price. They exclude those who do not fit this mould, setting them up as challengers to the judicial norm. Such has been the fate of the woman judge. But while this goes some way to explaining why, despite repeated efforts, our attempts to secure greater diversity in our judiciary have fallen short, it also points a way forward. For, by getting a clearer sense of what our judges really do and how they do it, we can see that women judges and judicial diversity more broadly do not threaten but rather enrich the judiciary and judicial decision-making. As such, the standard opponent to measures to increase judicial diversity - the necessity of appointment on merit - is in fact its greatest ally: a judiciary is stronger and the justice it dispenses better the greater the diversity of its members, so if we want the best judiciary we can get, we should want one which is fully diverse. Women, Judging and the Judiciary will be of interest to legal academics, lawyers and policy makers working in the fields of judicial diversity, gender and adjudication and, more broadly, to anyone interested in who our judges are and what they do.

Freedom in the World 2011
Freedom in the World 2011

Author: Freedom House

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2011-11

Total Pages: 862

ISBN-13: 1442209941

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Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 194 countries and 14 territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya
The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya

Author: Lionel Nichols

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-02-02

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 3319107291

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The period immediately following Kenya's 2007 presidential election left a shocking trail of atrocities, with over 1,000 people dead and countless thousands left victimised and displaced. In response, the International Criminal Court began a series of investigations and trials, promising no impunity for even the highest ranking perpetrators. When the country's president and vice-president were implicated in the crimes, the case took on worldwide significance. The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is a five-year study addressing critical human rights issues with a global reach and is the first detailed account of the ICC's intervention in Kenya. It probes the relationship between the ICC and state institutions, known as positive complementarity, and asks whether the ICC's intervention led to an end to impunity. The author provides comprehensive analysis of the Waki Commission's sealed envelope, the government's attempts to establish a special tribunal and the trials in The Hague. He also provides in depth consideration of any influence the ICC's intervention may have had on the passing of a new constitution, the establishment of a truth commission and important reforms to the judiciary, police and witness protection programme. Documenting the effects of these interventions on the Kenyan people, and on the country's legal and judicial systems, the book provides vital lessons in global justice as it: •Details the ICC's involvement in Kenya in the aftermath of extreme violence and instability •Evaluates the ICC prosecutor's strategy of positive complementarity •Identifies optimal conditions for positive complementarity to be effective •Links cultures of impunity to state-sponsored corruption •Explores the possible impact of the ICC on national and global policy •Discusses implications in responding to future crimes against humanity Replete with official government sources, The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is necessary reading for researchers and practitioners working in public international law, particularly those specialising in conflict and post-conflict states.

The Impossible Office?
The Impossible Office?

Author: Anthony Seldon

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-03-14

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 1009429779

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Over 300 years, fifty-seven individuals have held the office of British Prime Minister - who have been the best and worst?

Appointment of the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission
Appointment of the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-02-07

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 9780215556349

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The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The JAC was created in April 2006 following provisions in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The JAC was intended to ensure independence and transparency in the judicial appointments process by making recommendations to the Lord Chancellor based on fair and open competition. The JAC makes recommendations for all judicial post-holders except lay magistrates and supreme court judges. The Ministry of Justice informed the Committee on 10 January that the Secretary of State's preferred candidate for the Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission was Christopher Stephens. The Committee endorses Mr Stephens' suitability for the position of Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission. It thought that Mr Stephens' experience in the commercial sector was particularly relevant to ensuring that the JAC is an efficient organisation. It also values his experience in making appointments in the civil service but welcome his recognition that judicial appointments have special and different requirements.

The Standing Orders of the House of Lords Relating to Public Business [2005]
The Standing Orders of the House of Lords Relating to Public Business [2005]

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2005-05-23

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9780104007082

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This publication contains the Standing Orders of the House of Lords which set out information on the procedure and working of the House, under a range of headings including: Lords and the manner of their introduction; excepted hereditary peers; the Speaker; general observances; debates; arrangement of business; bills; divisions; committees; parliamentary papers; public petitions; privilege; making or suspending of Standing Orders.

House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee: The Work Of The Regulation Committee Of The Homes And Communities Agengy - HC 130
House of Commons - Communities and Local Government Committee: The Work Of The Regulation Committee Of The Homes And Communities Agengy - HC 130

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-09-11

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9780215061768

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Despite acknowledging that a 'handful' of providers give him concern, the Regulator is reluctant to give them lower financial viability ratings, fearing that doing so might trigger an upward re-pricing of their debt. Instead, the Regulator uses governance ratings to signal concerns about financial viability. This practice lacks openness and should stop and accurate financial viability ratings should be published. The fear of triggering a re-pricing also prevents the Regulator from using many of his statutory powers, preferring to adopt informal approaches instead. This lacks transparency and risks too close a relationship developing between the Regulator and providers. The devolved administrations' housing regulators, not to mention regulators in other sectors, must encounter similar dilemmas. The Regulator should work with them to see how they have addressed his concern that the use of statutory powers could prove counter-productive. The Committee's concerns are underlined by the case of Cosmopolitan Housing Group, which came close to insolvency in 2012. The Regulator only lowered its financial viability rating for Cosmopolitan in December 2012, despite the fact that he had been monitoring the situation for months and the possibility of insolvency had been raised in the media two months previously. The report also raises concerns about how effectively the Regulator is discharging his remit for consumer regulation. Noting that of 111 complaints related to consumer standards referred to the Regulator no case of serious consumer detriment was found, the Report calls for an annual external check to be carried out to provide assurance that the Regulator is discharging his duties effectively

The Political Accountability of EU and US Independent Regulatory Agencies
The Political Accountability of EU and US Independent Regulatory Agencies

Author: Miroslava Scholten

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

Published: 2015-01-27

Total Pages: 507

ISBN-13: 9004262997

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The Political Accountability of EU and US Independent Regulatory Agencies is an in-depth investigation on the law and practices of the political accountability arrangements of the 35 EU and 16 US independent agencies. The comparative analysis demonstrates similarities between the political accountability arsenals and challenges to political oversight in the EU and the US. The greatest differences are revealed in the organization of the political accountability of independent agencies, i.e., ‘excessive diversity in the EU vs. uniformity in the US’, and the design of accountability obligations. Based on comparative insights, the book concludes with three recommendations on how the EU agencies’ political accountability could be adjusted in the ongoing reform on agencies’ creation and operation.