ABSTRACT

A considerable amount of literature exists on the office of the Lord Chancellor and the unique role of the holders of this office played in the British constitution for many hundreds of years. However, hardly any research has been undertaken on the civil servants that worked in the Lord Chancellor's Office and the way in which they assisted the navigation of a difficult path between matters pertaining to the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Drawing on an extensive review of the archives relating to the Courts Act 1971, this article draws attention to the elite band of lawyers who made up the office and the ways in which their scant knowledge of the administration of justice was exposed in the corridors of Whitehall in the years that followed this Act coming into effect. The events we describe are of particular interest because they occurred away from the public gaze, behind the scenes in Whitehall and because they represented a transformation of the role of the office from policy makers to service providers.

摘要

总理大臣办公室中存在大量文献，而且该职位的拥有者在英国宪法中扮演了数百年的独特角色。但是，几乎没有对在大法官办公室工作的公务员及其协助政府的立法，行政和司法部门之间的艰难道路进行导航的任何研究。在对与《 1971年法院法》有关的档案进行广泛审查的基础上，本文提请人们注意组成办公室的律师精英团队，以及他们在白厅走廊上暴露的对司法行政知识不足的方式在该法案生效后的几年内。