Constitutional Reform Act 2005

43 Changes in composition

(1) This section applies if in any proceedings the Court ceases to be duly constituted in accordance with section 42, or in accordance with a direction under this section, because one or more members of the Court are unable to continue.

(2) The presiding judge may direct that the Court is still duly constituted in the proceedings.

(3) The presiding judge may give a direction under this section only if—

(a) the parties agree;

(b) the Court still consists of at least three judges (whether the number of judges is even or uneven);

(c) at least half of those judges are permanent judges.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) are subject to directions given by the President of the Court.

(5) If in any proceedings the Court is duly constituted under this section with an even number of judges, and those judges are evenly divided, the case is to be re-argued in a Court which is constituted in accordance with section 42.

(6) In this section—

(a) “presiding judge” means the judge who is to preside, or is presiding, over proceedings;

(b) references to permanent judges have the same meaning as in section 42.