Judicature Acts, 1873-55 These laws brought about a necessary reorganization of the courts of England and Wales. Prior to the legislation, there were courts of law, all with overlapping jurisdiction – the Common Please, the King’s Bench and the Exchequer. Consolidated and known as the Judicial Act of 1873, these Acts came into force on 1 November 1875 but were later amended in 1877. The first two laws are the Supreme Court Judicial Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict Vict C. 66) and the Supreme Court Judicial Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict C. 77), a further series of amending laws (all 12 of 1899 ). It reorganized the English court system to establish the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and in honor of England abolished the judicial functions of the House of Lords. It could currently hold these functions related to Scotland and Ireland. Originally, the law was the first modern attempt to reduce chaos and result in the inefficiency of courts that had adequate jurisdiction over England and Wales.
Originally, the Judicial Act of 1873 consolidated several tribunals and created the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Justice, with five subsequent sections. Under the 1873 Act (SSS 3, 4) the Chancery Court, the Court of Queens Bench (known as the Men’s Sovereign when the King Bench), the Court of General Pleas, the High Court, the High Court Admiralty Court, the Probate Court and the Court of Divorce and Marriage It was consolidated into two courts: the “High Court of Justice” (“High Court”), (broadly) the main jurisdiction and the “Court of Appeal”. These divisions are: (1) the Queen’s (or King’s) Bench, (2) the Chancery Division, (3) the General Pleas Division, (4) the Advisory Division, and (5) the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division. An Order in Council in 1881 attached the functions of the Common Pleas and Exchanges to the Queen’s Bench. However, with the Criminal Appeals Act, by 1907, Parliament created the right to appeal against criminal convictions and constituted the Criminal Appeals Court. Previously, decisions in criminal cases could only be overturned by the Home Secretary.
The law was bold and revolutionary. By a division, the Queen’s Bench, the Common Pleas (where only the sergeants had the right to listen before), and the investigators and all their jurisdiction, criminal, legal or just, were vested in the new court. The law provided for the appointment of appellate owners in general, a small body of senior and experienced judges who would consider appeals and pronounce their verdicts. However, the Gladstone Liberal government collapsed before the law came into force in 1874, and the subsequent Desareli Conservative government suspended its enactment through subsequent legislation in 1874 and 1875.
