R v Lord Chancellor, ex parte Witham [1998] QB 575

• The Lord Chancellor (LC) tried to increase court fees with the effect that many poor people would be incapable of bringing cases.

• A person affected by this sought judicial review, which was granted.

• CA held that access to the courts was a constitutional right which could only be abrogated by a piece of legislation specifically allowing the LC to do so.

• The legislation under which the LC purported to raise the fees did not do this. Accordingly the decision to raise fees was ultra vires and therefore unlawful. 

Laws J

• It is unnecessary to refer to ECHR articles because the right of access to the courts is enshrined in domestic law through precedent.

• This approach (finding a right substantively the same as those in the ECHR in precedent) was done with regard to free speech in Derbyshire CC v Times Newspapers.

• It is so important a right that only an explicit parliamentary provision can allow the executive to abrogate from it. 

RELATED CASES

• Derbyshire CC v Times Newspapers