The Chancellor of the High Court is the deputy head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. Before October 2005, when certain provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 took effect, the office was known as the Vice-Chancellor. He effectively acted as the Lord Chancellor's deputy in the British legal system. Despite the change of title, the duties of the office as deputy head of the Chancery Division remain unchanged. In April 2006 the Lord Chancellor ceased to be President of the Chancery Division and the Chancellor of the High Court assumed that responsibility.

History of the office

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The judges of the Court of Chancery (apart from the Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls), before the creation of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales in 1873-75, held the title of Vice-Chancellor. The first of them was appointed in 1813 and two more such posts were added in 1842.

In 1971 the office of Vice-Chancellor was recreated, to be the Vice President of the Chancery Division of the High Court. Sir Robert Andrew Morritt became the Vice-Chancellor in July 2000 and is the first Chancellor of the High Court.

List of Vice-Chancellors 1971-2005 and Chancellor of the High Court from 2005

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• 1971 Sir John Pennycuik (1899-1982)
• 1974 Sir Anthony Plowman
• 1976 Sir Robert Edgar Megarry (b. 1910)
• 1985 Sir Nicholas Browne-Wilkinson (b. 1936)
• 1991 Sir Donald Nicholls (b. 1933)
• 1994 Sir Richard Rashleigh Folliott Scott (b. 1934)
• 2000 Sir Robert Andrew Morritt (b. 1938)

References

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• A History of English Law, Vol. I, by Sir William Holdsworth (Methuen & Co, 1961 reprint)
• Twentieth-Century British Political Facts 1900-2000, by David Butler and Gareth Butler (Macmillan Press 2000)

External links

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• New legal year sees new team take up posts Department for Constitutional Affairs press release, 3 October 2005)
• Lists of Judges from the Department for Constitutional Affairs