The Bench, the Bar, and Crown Cases Reserved

Abstract

The three articles published in this forum address an aspect of judicial procedure which has, understandably, been shrouded in mystery. Until 1848, the process of judicial review of Crown cases remained informal and the records of that review are terse and elliptical. Teasing out their meaning and their implications for lawmaking is thus no easy task. And while the process was formalized and made public with the creation of the Court of Crown Cases Reserved (CCCR) in 1848, the activities of this court have not attracted sustained attention from legal historians. These articles are therefore to be commended for advancing our understanding of the operation of judicial review in criminal cases prior to the establishment of the Court of Criminal Appeal in the early twentieth century.