| Post: | Lady Chief Justice |
| Insignia: | Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg |
| Insigniasize: | 115px |
| Insigniacaption: | The Judiciary of England and Wales |
| Incumbent: | The Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill |
| Incumbentsince: | 1 October 2023 |
| Style: | The Right Honourable |
| Nominator: | Judicial Appointments Commission |
| Appointer: | Monarch of the United Kingdom, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor[1] |
| Formation: | 29 November 1880 |
The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales (alternatively Lord Chief Justice when the holder is male) is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.
Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and Welsh courts, surpassed by the lord chancellor, who normally sat in the highest court. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 changed the roles of judges, creating the position of President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and altering the duties of the lord chief justice and the lord chancellor. The lord chief justice ordinarily serves as president of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal and head of criminal justice, meaning its technical processes within the legal domain, but under the 2005 Act can appoint another judge to these positions. The lord chancellor became a purely executive office, with no judicial role.
The equivalent in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the post of Lord Justice-General in the High Court of Justiciary. The equivalent in Northern Ireland is the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, local successor to the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland of the pre-Partition era.
Sue Carr, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, has been Lady Chief Justice since October 2023. She is the first female holder of the office.[2]
Originally, each of the three high common law courts, the King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of the Exchequer, had its own chief justice: the Lord Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the Chief Baron of the Exchequer.[3] The Court of the King's (or Queen's) Bench had existed since 1234.[4] In 1268 the first chief justice of the King's Bench was appointed.[5] From the time of Edward Coke in the early 17th century, the chief justice became known informally as "lord chief justice". It was only in 1875 that it became the statutory title.[6]
The three courts became divisions of the High Court in 1875 (though the head of each court continued in post). Following the deaths of Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn and Chief Baron Sir Fitzroy Kelly in 1880, the three divisions were merged into a single division, with Lord Coleridge, the last Chief Justice of Common Pleas, as Lord Chief Justice of England.[7]
The suffix "and Wales", now found in statutes and elsewhere, was of a holder's own motion and to reflect centuries-old reality, appended during the tenure of Lord Bingham of Cornhill. He held this office between 1996 and 2000.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA) made the Lord Chief Justice the president of the Courts of England and Wales, vesting the office with many of the powers formerly held by the Lord Chancellor. While the Lord Chief Justice retains the role of President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, the CRA separated the role of President of the King's Bench Division; the changed chief justice role was first held by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. The CRA provides that the chief justice is chosen by a specially appointed committee convened by the Judicial Appointments Commission.
Upon the announcement of the appointment on 15 June 2023 of Dame Sue Carr, it was highly anticipated that the title would be modified from Lord to Lady, in line with Dame Siobhan Keegan's title change of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland to Lady Chief Justice. This speculation was further confirmed in news closer to Carr's appointment, on 27 September 2023 that Carr had chosen the title of Lady Chief Justice.[8] When Carr took office she was sworn as Lady Chief Justice, for the first time in the role's history since its inception.
The lord chief justice has 400 individual statutory responsibilities specified in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. While they sit as a judge on important criminal, civil and family cases, including appeal cases, they also have a wide range of administrative responsibilities. As president of the Courts of England and Wales, they are responsible for representing the opinions of the judiciary to government, overseeing their welfare and training and allocating work amongst them. With the Lord Chancellor, they are responsible for the handling of complaints against judges through the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. They are also president of the Sentencing Council, and Magistrates' Association and chairs the Judicial Executive Board, and Judges' Council.[9]
| Portrait | Lord chief justice | From | Until | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William of York | ||||||
| Sir Gilbert of Seagrave | ||||||
| Sir William of Wilton | ||||||
| Nicholas de Turri | ||||||
| Sir Robert de Briwes | ||||||
| Gilbert de Thornton | ||||||
| Murdered in the Peasants' Revolt | ||||||
| Sir Thomas Richardson | † | Died in office | ||||
| Sir John Bramston | ||||||
| Sir Robert Heath | ||||||
| Sir Henry Rolle | ||||||
| John Glynne | Knighted in 1660 | |||||
| Sir Richard Newdigate | ||||||
| Sir Robert Foster | † | First Chief Justice after the Restoration; died in office | ||||
| Sir Robert Hyde | † | Died in office | ||||
| Sir John Kelynge | † | Died in office | ||||
| Sir Matthew Hale | Formerly Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1660–1671 | |||||
| Sir Richard Raynsford | ||||||
| Sir William Scroggs | ||||||
| Sir Francis Pemberton | Later Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1683 | |||||
| Sir Edmund Saunders | Died in office | |||||
| Sir George Jeffreys (Lord Jeffreys from 1685) | nowrap | nowrap | Lord Chancellor 1685–1688 | |||
| Sir Edward Herbert | Later Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1687–1689 | |||||
| Sir Robert Wright | Briefly Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in April 1687 | |||||
| Sir John Holt | † | Died in office | ||||
| Sir Thomas Parker (Lord Parker from 1714) | Regent of Great Britain from 1 August to 18 September 1714; later Lord Chancellor 1718–1725, created Earl of Macclesfield in 1721; impeached for corruption in 1725 | |||||
| Sir John Pratt | Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1721 | |||||
| Sir Robert Raymond (Lord Raymond from 1731) | † | Previously Attorney General 1720–1724; died in office | ||||
| Lord Hardwicke | Previously Attorney General 1724–1733; later Lord Chancellor 1737–1756 and created Earl of Hardwicke in 1754 | |||||
| Sir William Lee | † | Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1754; died in office | ||||
| Sir Dudley Ryder | † | Previously Attorney General 1737–1754; died in office | ||||
| Lord Mansfield (Earl of Mansfield from 1776) | Previously Attorney General 1754–1756; Lord Speaker in 1783 | |||||
| Lord Kenyon | † | Previously Attorney General 1782–1783 1783–1784 and Master of the Rolls 1784–1788; died in office | ||||
| Lord Ellenborough | Previously Attorney General 1801–1802; interim Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1806 | |||||
| Sir Charles Abbott (Lord Tenterden from 1827) | † | Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1827; died in office | ||||
| Sir Thomas Denman (Lord Denman from 1834) | Previously Attorney General 1830–1832; interim Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1834 | |||||
| Lord Campbell | Previously Attorney General 1834 and 1835–1841; briefly Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1841; later Lord Chancellor 1859–1861 | |||||
| Sir Alexander Cockburn, Bt | † | Previously Attorney General 1851–1852, 1852–1856 and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1856–1859; Courts of the Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer became divisions of a unified High Court in 1875; died in office |
| Portrait | Lord chief justice | From | Until | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Coleridge | nowrap | † | Previously Attorney General 1871–1873 and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1873–1880; died in office | ||
| Lord Russell of Killowen | † | Previously Attorney General 1886 1892–1894; first Catholic Lord Chief Justice; died in office | |||
| Lord Alverstone | Previously Attorney-General 1885–1886 1886–1892 1895–1900 and Master of the Rolls in 1900; in retirement, created Viscount Alverstone in 1913 | ||||
| Sir Rufus Isaacs (Lord Reading from 1914, Viscount Reading from 1916, Earl of Reading from 1917) | Previously Attorney General 1910–1913; later Viceroy of India 1921–1925 and created Marquess of Reading in 1926; first Jewish Lord Chief Justice | ||||
| Sir Alfred Lawrence (Lord Trevethin from August 1921) | |||||
| Sir Gordon Hewart (Lord Hewart from 24 March 1922) | Previously Attorney General 1919–1922; in retirement, created Viscount Hewart in 1940 | ||||
| Viscount Caldecote | Previously Attorney General 1928–1929 and 1932–1936 and Lord Chancellor 1939–1940 | ||||
| Lord Goddard | Previously a law lord from 1944 | ||||
| Lord Parker of Waddington | |||||
| Lord Widgery | |||||
| Lord Lane | Previously a law lord from 1979 | ||||
| Lord Taylor of Gosforth | |||||
| Lord Bingham of Cornhill | First Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales; Master of the Rolls 1992–1996; Senior Law Lord 2000–2008; | ||||
| Lord Woolf | nowrap | Previously a law lord from 1992; Master of the Rolls from 1996 to 2000 | |||
| Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers | Previously a law lord from 1999; Master of the Rolls 2000–2005; later Senior Law Lord 2008–2009 and President of the Supreme Court 2009–2012 | ||||
| Lord Judge | Previously Deputy Chief Justice of England and Wales 2003–2005 | ||||
| Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd | |||||
| Lord Burnett of Maldon | |||||
| Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill | 1 October 2023 | Incumbent | The first Lady Chief Justice since the role's inception in the 13th century. |