ABSTRACT
From a political perspective, most observers would cite devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the reform of the House of Lords and the growing influence of Britain’s membership of the European Union as the most significant aspects of constitutional change in the United Kingdom since Labour came to power in 1997. Yet the transformation of the English (and Welsh) legal system will probably be acknowledged as of equal or even greater significance once all the dust has settled and it seems likely that Lord Irvine, the architect of Labour’s legal reforms, will go down in British history as one of the great reformers in the historic office of Lord Chancellor.
