The excellent employment law website Emplaw informed me that the House of Lords was only around as the final court of appeal for a mere 610 years. Labour’s Constitutional Reform Act 2005 did away with the House of Lords as a Court, with the intent of trying to ensure there was a proper separation of powers between legislature and judiciary. Apparently the last Law Lord to meddle in politics was one William Le Scroope, who was beheaded for his trouble. I don’t suppose there is any chance of a similar fate befalling those politicians who try and interfere in legal matters for a cheap headline: I’m particularly thinking of Harriet Harman who weighed into the dispute over Sir Fred Goodwin’s enormous pension by threatening to “take action”. No such luck I suppose.
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