In most older universities of England and Wales, and some
newer universities the court is one of the three bodies in the governance structure, along with the
council (equivalent to the
board of directors) and
senate (responsible for academic affairs). This model developed in the
civic universities of England, starting with the
Victoria University in 1880. The court was original the overall governing body, consisting of a large (40 or more at the Victoria University, over a hundred at the
University of Birmingham, representing the 'great and good' of local society as well as other stakeholders) with council as the executive governing body. Court's powers usually included legislation and sometimes appointment of the vice-chancellor and other officers, and the election of the chancellor. However, these were almost always merely confirmation of proposals from council, with contested chancellor elections unknown outside of Oxford. This model has evolved with councils becoming the single governing body in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 21st century, court has become a forum for local stakeholders from government, industry and the community to interact with the university. At Oxford University, the judge of the chancellor's court was the vice-chancellor, who was his deputy or assessor; the court had civil jurisdiction from 1244, to the exclusion of the king's courts, in all matters and suits wherein a scholar or privileged person of the university is one of the parties, except in actions relating to
freehold. It also had, from 1290, jurisdiction over all injuries and trespasses against the peace,
mayhem and
felony excepted, but this may have been removed by the 19th century
Summary Jurisdiction Acts. All jurisdiction over non-university matters was removed from both the Oxford and Cambridge courts by the
Administration of Justice Act 1977. After it became independent from Durham,
Newcastle University retained a convocation (following Durham's model) and established a court (under the civic university model). While Newcastle's convocation is responsible for appointing the chancellor, this is on the nomination of court and council in joint session, and it is court that has the power to request changes to the statutes from the privy council (on the recommendation of university's council).
London The court of the
University of London was created in 1929 by statutes made under the University of London Act 1926. As with Durham, this was a smaller body with responsibility for finance and property of the federal university, originally with 16 members but rising to 24 in 1981. The abolition of both court and senate and their replacement by a single executive council was recommended by a report in 1991 and effected by the University of London Act 1994. ==Scotland==