News - News - Law Lords to become history

The Law Lords will officially pass into the pages of history and become justices in the UK's first Supreme Court when it opens its doors in October 2009.

Six years after the Government announced its intention to create a new Supreme Court, the Grade II listed Middlesex Guildhall, in Parliament Square, is set to become its newly-refurbished £60 million home, where the 12 justices will sit daily.

The Law Lords (Lords of Appeal in Ordinary) previously sat in the House of Lords at Westminster and it was the highest court in the land – the Supreme Court of Appeal. It acted as the final court on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its decisions were to bind all courts below.

As the Law Lords were members of the House of Lords, they not only sat judicially, but were able to become involved in the debate and subsequent enactment of Government legislation (though, in practice, they rarely did). The new Supreme Court will mean that the most senior judges will be entirely separate from the Parliamentary process.

The new Supreme Court will be a United Kingdom body legally separate from the England and Wales courts since it will also be the Supreme Court of both Scotland and Northern Ireland.