London
Prime Minister Tony Blair has abolished the 1,400-year-old post of lord chancellor. The office, held in centuries past by such notables as Sir Thomas More and Thomas à Becket, was the highest in the British court system, with the power to appoint judges. Getting rid of the post is a key part of Blair’s plan to create a new high court within three years that would be fully independent of the legislature, as in the U.S. Under the current British system, the Law Lords comprise the highest court of appeal and serve both as legislators and judges. No other constitutional democracy has its highest court as part of the legislature.
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