How to look for records of... House of Lords Appeal Case records, 1680-2009

1. Why use this guide?

Use this guide if you are looking for records of an Appeal Case heard in the House of Lords, or other records relating to the judicial function of the House of Lords. The records cover 1680 to 2009.

2. What was the judicial function of the House of Lords?

The House of Lords was the highest court in the land from medieval times until 2009. It acted as the final court of appeal on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) in civil cases, and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its decisions bound all courts below.

The judicial function of the House of Lords can be traced back to the 14th century, to the royal court which advised the monarch. Following the restoration of the monarchy and the House of Lords in 1660, the Lords asserted its right to hear petitions for redress of grievances, including cases appealing decisions of lower courts in England and Wales. These lower courts included Chancery, Exchequer, Queen’s/King’s Bench, and Common Pleas. The Court of Appeal was set up in 1875, after which most appeals to the Lords from England and Wales came from there.

Appeals from the Court of Session, the highest civil court in Scotland, came to the House of Lords following the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707. However appeals from the High Court of Justiciary, the highest criminal court in Scotland, only came to the Lords between 1713 and 1781.

Appeals from Irish courts came to the House of Lords following the Act of Union with Ireland in 1801. Following the partition of Ireland in 1921 and the establishment of the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland became a distinct jurisdiction within the UK legal system, and appeals from its Courts came to the House of Lords.

3. Who were the law lords?

Originally, House of Lords appeal cases were heard by the Lord Chancellor and by other senior judges who either sat in the Lords, or attended the Lords as necessary. By the 1830s the role of judges had become increasingly professionalised, and lay members of the Lords ceased to play any part in judicial proceedings.

However there was a shortage of judges in the Lords from the 1850s, leading to much debate over reform. The result was the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, which allowed two Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (colloquially known as law lords) to be created. These were professional judges who worked full-time on House of Lords judicial business. Numbers of law lords increased gradually over time as workloads increased; by 2009 there were twelve.

By convention, appeal cases were heard by the whole House of Lords and proceedings held in the House of Lords chamber until 1948, when the law lords were forced by building works to move to a committee room. At this point the Appellate Committee was established, the committee of law lords with power to hear appeal cases.

4. How did appeal cases come to the House of Lords?

Generally, appeals from England, Wales and Northern Ireland needed to be given leave to appeal either from the court below or from the House of Lords, in order to be heard in the House of Lords.

Petitions for leave to appeal against the decree of a lower court were presented to the House of Lords and considered by the House or (after 1812) by an Appeal Committee of the House of Lords. The criterion was to grant permission to appeal for applications which raised an arguable point of law of general public importance, bearing in mind that such cases would have already have been the subject of judicial decision and may have already been reviewed on appeal.

Leave to appeal was not normally required for Scottish appeals, which proceeded directly to an Appellate Committee provided that two counsel certified the reasonableness of the appeal.

If leave to appeal was granted, the appeal case proceeded to the House of Lords, or (after 1948) to a House of Lords Appellate Committee, for a full hearing. During hearings, legal counsel made cases on behalf of each side, typically over several days. Law lords would subsequently consider the case, and give a judgment which affirmed, reversed or otherwise altered the decree complained of.

The last hearings and judgments in the House of Lords took place on 30 July 2009, after which the judicial functions of the House of Lords transferred to the new Supreme Court. The Supreme Court opened on 1 October 2009.

5. What are these records?

The main records are the Judgments and the Appeal Cases.

• The Judgments comprise the opinions of the law lords who heard the case, and their formal judgment which affirmed, reversed or otherwise altered the decree complained of. The opinions are statements written by each individual law lord, explaining their findings and giving a comprehensive argument supporting their ruling.
• The Appeal Cases may include the Judgments but also additional material. This additional material varies over time but from the mid/late 19th century usually includes the text of the petition for appeal; case for the appellant and case for the respondent (the argument and interpretation put by their legal counsel); and appendices. The appendices are the evidence consulted by the law lords for the case. They vary hugely in size and scope but may include transcripts of hearings in lower courts, correspondence and other paperwork submitted by the parties, and published material.

There are also other records relating to the judicial function of the House of Lords, including:

• Original petitions for leave to appeal, which were laid on the table of the House of Lords, in YHL/PO/JO/10.
• The House of Lords Journal, YHL/PO/JO/2 the formal minute of proceedings of the whole House of Lords, including judicial proceedings.
• Records of the Appeal Committee, which scrutinised petitions requesting the right to appeal and decided which ones to grant leave to appeal. In particular memoranda YHL/PO/JU/1 (from 1916 to 2009) and minutes YHL/PO/JU/17 (from 1844 to 1992).
• Records of the Appellate Committee, YHL/PO/JU/14 the committee(s) of law lords which heard appeal cases (from 1948 to 2009).
• Records of the Judicial Office, YHL/PO/JU a department of the House of Lords which administered judicial functions and existed from 1854 to 2009.

Transcripts of judicial proceedings were very rarely made. The few that do exist can be found on the catalogue by searching for the name of Appeal Case. There are no records made of public or private discussion or debate by the law lords on appeal cases. 

Transcripts of judicial proceedings were very rarely made. The few that do exist can be found on the catalogue by searching for the name of Appeal Case. There are no records made of public or private discussion or debate by the law lords on appeal cases.

A fuller history and description of records can be found in the catalogue.

6. Online records

All House of Lords Judgments from 14 November 1996 to 30 July 2009 may be found on the Parliament website.

Selected House of Lords judgments from 1709 to 2009 may be found on the BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) website.

Other published House of Lords judgments may be found in subscription-based law website and databases available in law libraries, such as Westlaw and Lexis.

7. How to search for records

You will need to search the catalogue to identify records. To view them you will need to visit The National Archives at Kew or pay for copies to be sent to you.

To search the catalogue, you need to know the name of the House of Lords appeal case you are looking for, and at least an approximate date; there is no subject index. Use the online catalogue to search for the name of the case, and narrow by date if necessary.

If the case was heard by the Lords, you will find the relevant records by searching for the name of the case. Almost all House of Lords judicial records start with the Parliamentary Archives reference YHL/PO/JU. The most significant series are:

• Judgments YHL/PO/JU/18
• Appeal Cases YHL/PO/JU/4/3

Original petitions for leave to appeal are not catalogued among judicial records because they were laid on the table of the House of Lords, so can be found in House of Lords Main Papers, YHL/PO/JO/10. Other early (pre-1700) judicial material may also be found in the Main Papers. Again, search the catalogue for the name of the case to find them.

To find out what happened with a particular appeal case, the starting point should always be the House of Lords Journal YHL/PO/JO/2 volume for the year the case came to the Lords, which will document the formal proceedings from presentation of petition for leave to appeal through to final judgment. The name of the case will be in an index at the back of the Journal volume, or in the general index YHL/PO/JO/3 to the Journals. This may be supplemented by the records of the Appeal Committee and Appellate Committee.

If a petition for leave to appeal was presented but the Lords refused to hear the case, you may find the original petition by searching the catalogue for the name of the case, but no other records. Consult the House of Lords Journal for proceedings, and follow up in Appeal Committee records for further detail, if any.

8. Records marked as not available in the catalogue

Appeal Cases less than 100 years old may be marked as not available on the catalogue. This may be because they contain sensitive personal data, such as the names of minors or victims.

Other House of Lords judicial records may be marked as not available if they are recent (less than 30 years old).

You can apply for access by clicking on the link for submitting a Freedom of Information request to UK Parliament.

9. Other sources

You may find copies of House of Lords Appeal Cases at Lincoln’s Inn Library, The Advocates Library in Scotland and the Library of Congress in Washington, USA.

Individual law lords may have kept their own papers, for example the Parliamentary Archives collections at TNA includes notebooks of Lord Reid YREI in hearing appeals in the House of Lords and other courts. Search Discovery for locations of personal papers in archives across the UK.

Supreme Court judgments since 2009 can be found on the Supreme Court website.

10. Further reading

Louis Blom-Cooper, Gavin Drewry and Brice Dickson (eds), ‘The Judicial House of Lords: 1876-2009’ (2009).

Maurice Bond, ‘Guide to the Records of Parliament’ (1971), pp.106-126.

Glenn Dymond, ‘The Appellate Jurisdiction of the House of Lords’, House of Lords Library Note (2007).