The county of Middlesex was the ancient home of the Middel Saxons. Originally it covered an area stretching from the western edge of Essex to include such ancient foundations like the City of London, through to Westminster Abbey and out to more modern “cathedrals” like Heathrow.
On the edge of what used to be known as Thorney Island there now stands an imposing building which surprisingly was only constructed in the 20th Century. On the site of an old belfry in the 13th century and the site of two previous Middlesex Guildhalls, the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is housed in the splendidly renovated Middlesex Guildhall of 1913.
The Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are situated on the opposite side of Parliament Square to the Houses of Parliament. On a cold but bright morning a few days ago, I found my initial scepticism of the creation of a highly expensive new court building overcome by the impressive façade with its scenes of King John handing Magna Carta to the barons at Runnymede, the granting of the charter of Westminster Abbey and the Duke of Northumberland offering the crown of England to Lady Jane Grey.
The court has come a long way since the days of the Middle Saxons. Created by the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, the Court has 11 Justices headed by the President, Lord Phillips and the Deputy President. Lord Hope. The twelfth Justice is yet to be appointed.
The Justices hear appeals in civil cases from the constituent parts of the UK and in criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
On the day of my visit I was able to sit at the back of court one to listen to the arguments before nine of the Justices in the extradition case concerning former Morgan Crucible executive Ian Norris appealing against the extradition order against him to stand trial in the US.
All very up to date and modern like the court building itself which is a delightful blend of the old and the new and would clearly be a wonderful place to work.
Without detracting in any way from my new found admiration for the building and its renovations, I was mildly comforted that the old ways still prevail in some respects. In the exhibition hall on the lower ground floor I discovered that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has been asked for final rulings in many different laws from many countries including Roman Dutch law from South Africa, Spanish law from Trinidad, prerevolutionary French law form Quebec, mediaeval Norman law from the Channel Islands, Ottoman law from Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt and Chinese law from British courts in Shanghai.
But what caused me a wry smile was the very traditional use of lever arch files in the court before the Justices with references to folder this and tab that. The Empire and the old Appellate Committee of the House of Lords may have passed away but the good old use of paper files is alive and kicking in the heart of the modern courts which make up our new Supreme Court.
Technology has not scaled that particular keep just yet!