The role of the judge

There are some common misconceptions about the role of a judge, says Lord Phillips, including: That it is open to a judge to decide a case on the basis of his personal view of the requirements of justice; when he comes to sentence a criminal, he can impose whatever sentence he believes the criminal deserves; and when a challenge is made to a decision by government, the judge can if he chooses frustrate the wishes of Parliament by declaring the decision unlawful.

“Those who make such suggestions often accuse judges of being divorced from the real world and obsessed with human rights, so that they give precedence to the rights of illegal immigrants and terrorist suspects over the interests of the community. There was a time when judges had a very wide discretion as to how they decided cases before them, but that was a very long time ago. Today a judge’s room for manoeuvre is very restricted.”