Britain’s Supreme Court justices sworn in ahead of opening
By APThursday, October 1, 2009
Supreme Court justices sworn in ahead of opening
LONDON — Britain’s new Supreme Court won’t hear its first case until Monday, but the justices are already at work.
Shortly after the newly titled justices of the Supreme Court were sworn in Thursday, they got down to business — an impromptu administrative hearing relating to a case they’ll decide later this month.
The justices used to be known as Law Lords, and are the country’s highest court of appeal. They used to make their rulings from the red benches of the stately House of Lords, in the Houses of Parliament.
But now — along with their new titles and new, gold-trimmed black robes — the justices have a new home: the Supreme Court building. Previously the Middlesex Guildhall, it is just across Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster and has plush spectator seating. The justices sit at semicircular benches fixed at ground level, rather than on raised platforms.
The court was created to correct one of Britain’s ancient constitutional quirks. It also delivers on a promise by the government to separate the country’s judicial and legislative powers after hundreds of years.
On the web:
www.supremecourt.gov.uk/
