Oliver Gayner reviews the work of the last three terms in the UK Supreme Court
The Supreme Court continues to process an impressively heavy workload. According to its end of year review published in August, in its first 12 months the court heard 67 appeals, handed down 62 judgments considered 206 applications for permission to appeal, and welcomed over 40,000 visitors through the door. Including the Michaelmas term recently ended, that is 85 appeals and 74 judgments in 14 months.
Two clear trends emerge from the decided cases. First, over a third of all cases have featured human rights issues. The “quasi-constitutional” nature of the court’s work is a point considered in more detail below. Second, appellants have a surprising high chance of success: in 43% of cases, the Court of Appeal was overturned.
Of the decided cases, there have been a number of headline grabbers: for example, Radmacher achieved almost the same column inches as JFS (the Jewish schools discrimination case) had in 2009. It is clear that the court is generally succeeding in its manifesto aim of making justice more accessible. One
