The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King-in-Council, the Privy Council formerly acted as the court of last resort for the entire British Empire except for the United Kingdom itself.P. A. Howell, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1833–1876: Its Origins, Structure, and Development, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979

Formally a statutory committee of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, the Judicial Committee consists of senior judges who are privy counsellors; they are predominantly justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth of Nations. Although it is often simply referred to as the "Privy Council", the Judicial Committee is only one constituent part of the Council. In Commonwealth realms that retain the JCPC as the final court of appeal, appeals are nominally made to "His Majesty in Council" (i.e. the British monarch as formally advised by his privy counsellors), who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for "advice". In republics in the Commonwealth of Nations that retain the JCPC as their final court of appeal, appeals are made directly to the Judicial Committee itself. The panel of judges (typically five) hearing a particular case is known as "the Board". The report of the Board is, by convention, always accepted by the King-in-Council as judgement.

History

The origins of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council can be traced back to the , or royal council. In theory, the king was the fount of justice, and petitions for redress of wrongs arising from his courts were addressed to him. That power was gradually taken over by Parliament (which evolved out of the ) within England, but the King-in-Council (which also evolved out of the ) retained jurisdiction to hear petitions from the King's non-English possessions, such as the Channel Islands and, later on, from England's colonies.

The task of hearing appeals was given to a series of short-lived committees of the Privy Council. In 1679, appellate jurisdiction was given to the Board of Trade, before being transferred to a standing Appeals Committee of the Privy Council in 1696. The Appeals Committee of the Privy Council was one of the earliest judicial bodies which exercised the power of judicial review, in a series of cases from the American colonies which raised questions about the constitutionality of colonial statutes, measured against the royal charters which set out the powers of the colonial governments.

By the early nineteenth century, the growth of the British Empire had greatly expanded the appellate jurisdiction of the Privy Council, which in turn had put great strains on the existing arrangements. The Appeals Committee had to hear cases arising from a variety of different legal systems in the colonies. In a major speech in the House of Commons in 1828, Henry Brougham pointed out that the committee heard appeals from some jurisdictions with Dutch law, some with Spanish law, some with French law, and some with Hindu law, with which its members were unfamiliar. Even in colonies which used English law, there were also local statutes and variations, so that no colony had the same law.Mance and Turner, Privy Council Practice, para. 1.13, note 44.

Another serious problem was that the Appeals Committee was technically a committee of the whole of the entire Privy Council, of which a minimum of three were required for a quorum. Many members of the Privy Council were not lawyers but had an equal right to sit on appeals with legally trained members. There was no requirement that any of the Privy Counsellors actually hearing a particular appeal had to be a lawyer. Bishops could sit on matters involving the Church of England.Jonathan Mance and Jacob Turner, Privy Council Practice (Oxford University Press, 2017), para. 1.12. It became possible for certain parties to appeal to secure desired judgements by persuading nonlawyer Privy Counsellors to attend the hearings on their appeals.

The Judicial Committee was also under-resourced. In his 1828 speech in the House of Commons, Brougham pointed out that in the twelve years up to 1826, the committee sat just nine days a year.Mance and Turner, Privy Council Practice, para. 1.14. For these reasons, the Appeals Committee fell into disrepute among better-informed lawyers and judges in the colonies.

In 1833, Brougham became the Lord Chancellor. At his instigation, Parliament passed the (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 41).The act established the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a statutory committee of the Privy Council that would hear appeals to the King-in-Council. In addition to colonial appeals, later legislation gave the Judicial Committee appellate jurisdiction over a range of miscellaneous matters, such as patents, ecclesiastical matters, and prize suits.Mance and Turner, Privy Council Practice, paras.1.15–1.20. At its height, the Judicial Committee was said to be the court of final appeal for over a quarter of the world.

In the twentieth century, the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council shrank considerably, as British dominions established their own courts of final appeal and as British colonies became independent, although many retained appeals to the Privy Council post-independence. Canada abolished Privy Council appeals in 1949, India and South Africa in 1950, Australia in 1986, and New Zealand in 2003. Currently, eleven Commonwealth countries outside of the United Kingdom retain Privy Council appeals, in addition to various British and New Zealand territories. The Judicial Committee also retains jurisdiction over a small number of domestic matters in the United Kingdom, reduced by the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009.

Jurisdiction

Domestic jurisdiction

The United Kingdom does not have a single highest national court; the Judicial Committee is the highest court of appeal in some cases, while in most others the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. (In Scotland the highest court in criminal cases is the High Court of Justiciary; the Supreme Court is the highest court in civil cases and matters arising from Scottish devolution, the latter previously having been dealt with by the Judicial Committee.)

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has jurisdiction in the following domestic matters: Appeals against schemes of the Church Commissioners (who control the estate of the Church of England). Appeals from the ecclesiastical courts (the Arches Court of Canterbury and the Chancery Court of York) in non-doctrinal faculty cases. Appeals from the High Court of Chivalry.Privy Council Appeals Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 92) Appeals from the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports. Appeals from prize courts or High Court in matters concerning prize Appeals from the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Disputes under the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975.

Additionally, the government may (through the King) refer any issue to the committee for "consideration and report" under section 4 of the Judicial Committee Act 1833.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court of final appeal for the Church of England. It hears appeals from the Arches Court of Canterbury and the Chancery Court of York, except on matters of doctrine, ritual or ceremony, which go to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved. By the Church Discipline Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 86) and the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 all archbishops and bishops of the Church of England became eligible to be members of the Judicial Committee.

Prior to the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Privy Council was the court of last resort for devolution issues. On 1 October 2009 this jurisdiction was transferred to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Authority of Privy Council decisions in domestic British courts

Judgments of the Judicial Committee are not generally binding on courts within the United Kingdom, having only persuasive authority, but are binding on all courts within any other Commonwealth country which still allows for appeals to the Judicial Committee. Where a binding precedent of the UK Supreme Court, or of the House of Lords, or of the Court of Appeal conflicts with that of a decision of the Judicial Committee on English law, English courts are required to follow the domestic decision over that of the Judicial Committee except when the Judicial Committee has in its decision expressly directed the domestic court to follow its new decision. However, given the overlap between the membership of the Judicial Committee and of the Supreme Court, the decisions of the former are extremely persuasive and usually followed.As in Bisset v Wilkinson 1927

Overseas jurisdiction

The Judicial Committee holds jurisdiction in appeals from the following 32 jurisdictions (including eleven independent nations):

+JurisdictionType of jurisdictionType of appealBritish Overseas TerritoryAppeal is to "His Majesty in Council"Crown DependencyParts of the Bailiwick of GuernseyCommonwealth RealmStates in Association with a Commonwealth Realm (New Zealand)Independent Commonwealth monarchyAppeal is to the Sultan as head of state; only civil cases are under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee. (By agreement with the United Kingdom the Judicial Committee hears cases in which such an appeal has been made, and reports back to him.)Republic in the Commonwealth of NationsAppeal is directly made to the Judicial Committee.Appeal is directly made to the Judicial Committee; only cases involving certain constitutional rights of Banabans and/or the Rabi Council are under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee.

Jurisdiction removed

Judicial appeal of final resort has been assumed by other bodies in some current and former Commonwealth countries: