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27 March 2008 / Edwina Millward
Issue: 7314 / Categories: Features , Public , Regulatory , Constitutional law
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A new partnership

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Edwina Millward is optimistic that the Ministry of Justice can benefit both the prison service and the courts

Rapid change and the judiciary are extremely rare bedfellows. So, after the attempts by the former lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, to abolish himself in June 2003, the signing of the Concordat in January 2004, the passing of the Constitutional Reform Act in 2005 and then its implementation in April 2006, the judiciary had hoped for a period of consolidation as the lord chief justice settled into his new role as head of the judiciary. However, barely had he assumed his new responsibilities than there were leaks of the possible creation of a Ministry of Justice (MOJ), to include prisons and probation, in place of the much smaller Department for Constitutional Affairs.

For the judiciary, their concerns over the creation of the MOJ were twofold. One was its effect on their independence; clear water had to be placed between Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS) as the vehicle through which judges do their business and those

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