Who are the Judiciary?

• Independence
• Impartiality
• Integrity

The judiciary is made up of judges, magistrates, tribunal members, and coroners.

Together, they uphold the rule of law.

Judges and other members of the judiciary oversee cases, in different types of courts and tribunals and in different areas of law across the country.

Find out more

Latest judgments

• December 2, 2025

  JXM -v- PXQ and Haven Insurance (anonymity order)

• December 2, 2025

  E (A Child)

• December 2, 2025

  Women Against State Pension Inequality -v- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (transmission direction order)

• December 1, 2025

  N (A Child: Placement Order: Proportionality)

Latest news

• December 2, 2025

  Lecture by the Lady Chief Justice: The Constitutional Reform Act – 20 Years On

  The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, gave the Blackstone Lecture on 28 November 2025 at Pembroke College, Oxford. The lecture, entitled The Constitutional Reform Act – 20 Years On, can be read and downloaded below. Introduction Reform in haste. Repent at leisure. Is that the story of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 – […]

• December 2, 2025

  Lecture by Lord Justice Popplewell: The Mareva at 50 — a midlife crisis?

  Read the sixth Jonathan Hirst QC Commercial Law Lecture, delivered by Lord Justice Popplewell at Inner Temple in London

• November 26, 2025

  Administrative Justice Council publishes final report on addressing disadvantage in tribunal and ombudsman system 

  The report explores the barriers faced by individuals who experience disadvantage in the administrative justice system

• November 21, 2025

  Lord Justice Dove

  Lord Justice Ian Dove was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1986 and took Silk in 2003. He was appointed as a Fee-Paid Immigration Adjudicator (now a Fee-Paid Judge of the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber)) in 2000, a Recorder in 2003 and authorised as a Deputy High Court Judge to hear cases […]

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Business and Property Courts

Specialist courts which decide business, commercial, property and other chancery disputes and technology and construction disputes, both domestic and international.

Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal deals exclusively with people challenging the decisions made by other courts or tribunals. It has two divisions, Criminal and Civil (the latter also hears family appeals).

High Court

The High Court hears the most serious administrative, civil and family cases. It has three divisions – King’s Bench, Family and Chancery.

Tribunals

The Tribunals are specialist judicial bodies whose judges and members hear a wide range of cases, such as tax, employment, and immigration and asylum. The Upper Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal hear appeals challenging some tribunal decisions.

See more courts and tribunals

Magistrates’ courts

Magistrates, or Justices of the Peace as they are also known, are trained, volunteer members of the local community who make decisions in criminal and family cases in Magistrates’ courts and the Family Court. The most complex cases in Magistrates’ courts are heard by District Judges who are legally qualified specialists.

Coroners’ courts

Coroners investigate certain deaths which are deemed to be unnatural, violent, or where the cause is unknown.

Popular links

Family Justice Council

Civil Justice Council

Appointments and retirements

Court of Appeal live hearings