President of the Business and Property Division
The current President of the Business and Property Division is Sir Colin Birss.
The President of the Business and Property was previously known as the Chancellor of the High Court. This change occurred alongside the enactment of the Business and Property Division on 1 October. The role was previously known as the Vice Chancellor prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
The Business and Property Division which hears disputes involving property in all its forms, ranging from commercial, business, intellectual property, competition disputes, financial list cases, patents, technology and construction, property, admiralty, through taxation to work relating to companies, partnerships, mortgages, insolvency, land and trusts.
The President of the Business and Property Division is also an ex officio (meaning belonging because he holds another post) judge of the Court of Appeal. As a member of the Privy Council, he or she is entitled to the prefix ‘The Right Honourable’.
Appointment
The office of Vice-Chancellor was created in 1813 to assist the Lord Chancellor. He could then decide only cases specially delegated to him by the Lord Chancellor.
In 1842, two further Vice-Chancellors were appointed and this became permanent in 1852. The office disappeared in the reorganisation of 1873.
In 1970, the Lord Chancellor was authorised to appoint a Vice-Chancellor from amongst the Chancery Division High Court judges to organise and manage the business of the division and be its everyday head.
S.10(3)(a) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 provides that only a judge of the Court of Appeal or person qualified for appointment to the Court of Appeal is eligible for appointment as Chancellor of the High Court.