The appointment of judges by ministers: political preferment in England 1880 - 2005

I investigate appointment to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords between 1880 and 2005. Exploiting the fact that appointment is almost invariably from within the ranks of existing High Court judges and using a conditional logit model, I test for effects of legal, professional, and political factors upon appointment prospects. Although there is no advantage to having the same political affiliation as the appointing Lord Chancellor, judges are more likely to be promoted if they were previously appointed by the incumbent party.