Lord Chancellor

Not to be confused with Chancellor of the Exchequer. For other uses, see Lord Chancellor (disambiguation).
For a list of lord chancellors, see List of lord chancellors and lord keepers.

United Kingdom
Lord Chancellor
Royal Arms used by His Majesty's Government
since 5 July 2024[1]
Ministry of Justice
StyleThe Right Honourable
(within the UK and Commonwealth)
TypeGreat Officer of State
Member of
AppointerThe Monarch
on the advice of the Prime Minister
Precursor
Formation
First holderThe 1st Lord Cowper
as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Salary£159,038 per annum (2022)[2]
(including £86,584 MP salary)[3]
WebsiteOfficial website
Political offices in the UK government
Arms of the British Government
Arms of the British Government
List of political offices

The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ranking Great Officer of State in Scotland[a] and England[b], nominally outranking the prime minister. The lord chancellor is appointed and dismissed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister. Prior to the union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, there were separate lord chancellors[c] for the Kingdom of England (including Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. Likewise, the Lordship of Ireland and its successor states (the Kingdom of Ireland and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) maintained the office of lord chancellor of Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, whereupon the office was abolished.

The lord chancellor is a member of the Cabinet and is, by law, the minister of the Crown responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts. The lord chancellor thus leads the Ministry of Justice and is the judiciary's voice within Cabinet. In 2005, there were a number of changes to the legal system and to the office of the lord chancellor. Previously, the lord chancellor was also the presiding officer of the House of Lords, the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the presiding judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 transferred these roles to the lord speaker, the lord chief justice and the chancellor of the High Court respectively.

One of the lord chancellor's responsibilities is to act as the custodian of the Great Seal of the Realm, kept historically in the Lord Chancellor's Purse. A Lord Keeper of the Great Seal may be appointed instead of a lord chancellor. The two offices entail exactly the same duties; the only distinction is in the mode of appointment. Furthermore, the office of lord chancellor may be exercised by a committee of individuals known as lords commissioners of the Great Seal,[5] usually when there is a delay between an outgoing chancellor and their replacement. The office is then said to be in commission. Since the 19th century, however, only lord chancellors have been appointed, the other offices having fallen into disuse.

  1. ^ Cross, Michael (5 July 2024). "Shabana Mahmood appointed lord chancellor and justice secretary in Starmer cabinet". Law Gazette. The Law Society. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  4. ^ Garner, Bryan A. (2001). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford University Press. p. 538. ISBN 978-0-19-514236-5.
  5. ^ Great Seal Act 1688, section 1


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).