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Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jahaza (talk | contribs) at 02:26, 5 May 2004 (=Lord Chief Justices, King's (Queen's) Bench, to 1873=). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, and the presiding judge of Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, and of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court.

Originally, the three high common law courts, the Court of Common Pleas, the Court of the King's (or Queen's) Bench, and the Court of the Exchequer, each had their own Chief Justice. That of the Exchequer Court was styled as the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and that of the Common Pleas was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, leaving the head of the King's (or Queen's) Bench to be known simply as the Lord Chief Justice. The courts, however, were combined in 1873, leaving a single Chief Justice.

There is also a Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The Lord Chief Justice's equivalent in Scotland is the Lord President of the Court of Session, who also holds the post of Lord Justice-General in the High Court of Justiciary.

Presently the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the Lord Woolf.

Lord Chief Justices, King's (Queen's) Bench, to 1873

Lord Chief Justices of England (later England and Wales), 1873-present

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