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Reigning supreme

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22 January 2016 / Brice Dickson
Issue: 7683 / Categories: Features , In Court
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Brice Dickson casts an eye over events at The Supreme Court in 2015

For the second year running there were no changes in the composition of the Supreme Court during 2015, though the highly respected Jenny Rowe retired as the court’s chief executive.

There continues to be just one female justice, Lady Hale, and the average age of the 12 justices has crept up to 67. There will be at least one change in 2016, as Lord Toulson must retire by September.

Cases decided

In 2015, the court delivered judgments in 79 cases, compared with 68 in 2014 and 81 in 2013. As usual, most cases (65, or 82%) were heard by five justices, but 13 were heard by seven. In one case, dealing with a costs issue, only three justices sat. No case involved nine justices. The president of the court, Lord Neuberger, presided in 60 of the 79 cases (76%) and the deputy president, Lady Hale, presided in 16 (20%). The president and deputy president sat together in 27 cases (34%). Lord Mance presided

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