Last year, a fundamental change in the British judiciary occured on this day. For after centuries of being the final court of appeal in England (and the rest of the United Kingdom as it was annexed united to England, the House of Lords ceased to function in this way.

During the fifty-fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Constitutional Reform Act 2008 (c.4) was passed. This created the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Sadly this sounds very American to my British ears.
There didn’t really seem very much wrong with the old system, but we have to get on with the new.

Today sees the ceremonial opening of the Legal Year, therefore the building that houses the Supreme Court will be closed to members of the public.

Of course, being the United Kingdom, the legal year begins on different days in different jurisdictions. Here in Northern Ireland it began on 6 September 2010, with a ceremony in the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast. The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, The Rt Hon Sir Declan Morgan, gave a speech outlining what has happened in the past year in the judiciary here and what he plans to do.

In 2009 the judiciary dealt with over 100,000 cases- on average some 2000 cases per week of all varieties.  In terms of crime, over 57,000 criminal defendants were dealt with in the Crown, magistrates’ and youth courts.

The judiciary rarely gets our thanks – but without them we would have no justice system. So, today, I ask you to have a thought for those who administer the Justice of the Crown throughout the United Kingdom.