The Lord Chief Justice is the Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales. They are also the President of the Courts of England and Wales and responsible for representing the views of the judiciary to Parliament and the Government.
Historically, the officeholder was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but became the top judge as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which removed the judicial functions from the office of Lord Chancellor, altered the duties of the Lord Chief Justice and changed the relationship between the two offices.
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