Section 27: Selection process, Constitutional Reform Act 2005

The commission must—

determine the selection process to be applied by it,

apply the selection process, and

make a selection accordingly.

The commission must have an odd number of members not less than five.

The members of the commission must include—

at least one who is non-legally-qualified,

at least one judge of the Court,

at least one member of the Judicial Appointments Commission,

at least one member of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland, and

at least one member of the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission,

and more than one of the requirements may be met by the same person's membership of the commission.

If the commission is convened for the selection of a person to be recommended for appointment as President of the Court—

its members may not include the President of the Court, and

it is to be chaired by one of its non-legally-qualified members.

If the commission is convened for the selection of a person to be recommended for appointment as Deputy President of the Court, its members may not include the Deputy President of the Court.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Subsections (5) to (10) apply to any selection under this section or regulations under section 27A.

Selection must be on merit.

Where two persons are of equal merit—

section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 (positive action: recruitment etc) does not apply in relation to choosing between them, but

Part 5 of that Act (public appointments etc) does not prevent the commission from preferring one of them over the other for the purpose of increasing diversity within the group of persons who are the judges of the Court.

A person may be selected only if he meets the requirements of section 25.

A person may not be selected if he is a member of the commission.

In making selections for the appointment of judges of the Court the commission must ensure that between them the judges will have knowledge of, and experience of practice in, the law of each part of the United Kingdom.

The commission must have regard to any guidance given by the Lord Chancellor as to matters to be taken into account (subject to any other provision of this Act) in making a selection.

Any selection must be of one person only.

For the purposes of this section a person is non-legally-qualified if the person—

does not hold, and has never held, any of the offices listed in Schedule 1 to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 (judicial offices disqualifying for membership of the House of Commons), and

is not practising or employed as a lawyer, and never has practised or been employed as a lawyer.

Section 27: Selection process

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