Lord Chancellor (Transfer of Functions and Supplementary Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2006

My Lords, this statutory instrument emphasises yet again the absurdity of the attempt by the Prime Minister on 12 June 2003 to abolish the historic office of Lord Chancellor by press release. Having said that, I should also say that we supported the Government in the Constitutional Reform Act. We think the ending of the Lord Chancellor’s judicial function is not only inevitable in the present circumstances, but in fact the right thing to do. It is this order, rather than the enactment of the Constitutional Reform Act itself, which brings to an end the historic role of the Lord Chancellor as a judge. While I entirely approve of the principle, it is perhaps a moment for nostalgia. The office of Lord Chancellor has been a great judicial office in this country for several hundred years. I speak with particular nostalgia as someone who practised in the Chancery Division, because for many years, well into the 19th  century, the principal judicial role of the Lord Chancellor was not in the House of Lords but as a judge of the Chancery Court. In those circumstances, I recognise that the making of this order is a historic act. We look forward to the new role of the Lord Chancellor, principally as a departmental Minister, as a change we approve of, but, in saying goodbye to the Lord Chancellor’s judicial role, we recognise also that this is a moment when a long period of history comes to an end.