The new Supreme Court came into existence on 1st October and was officially opened by the Queen on 16th October. The court replaces the House of Lords as the highest domestic court of appeal in England and Wales. As regular readers will be aware, the law lords moved out of their offices in the Palace of Westminster in July and began to take up residence in the new court building – what was the old Middlesex Guildhall – the other side of Parliament Square. The creation of the new court, as will be apparent from some earlier posts, was not free of controversy.
This week’s quiz questions relate to the new court. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners.
1. The new court building houses three courtrooms. Two are used by the Supreme Court. Who occupies the third?
2. The law lords were distinguished lawyers, usually educated at Oxbridge. However, not all were Oxbridge graduates. Of the law lords who moved across from the Palace of Westminster to the new court, which ones were not Oxbridge graduates?
3. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers is the President of the Supreme Court. Who is the Deputy President?
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
2. Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore
3. Lord Hope of Craighead
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council occupies the third courtroom.
2. Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore is the only law lord not to have graduated from Oxbridge.
3. Lord Hope of Craighead is the Deputy President.
1. Courtroom three wil be used by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council primarily.
2.Lords Collins and Kerr
3.Lord Hope
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
2. Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore. Lord Hope of Craighead did a BA in Cambridge, but read law at Edinburgh. Baron Rodger of Earlsferry took his LL.B for university of Glasgow and Baron Collins of Mapesbury did his LL.M at Columbia Law School in New York
3. Lord Hope of Craighead
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
2. Lord Kerr (Queens, Belfast)
Lord Rodger (Glasgow, but later Oxford)
3. Lord Hope
Steph xx
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
2. Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore (graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast) is the only one
3. Lord Hope of Craighead
1. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
2. Lord Hope of Craighead and Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore
3. Lord Hope
Congratulations to Rob and Michael, who are the first two to respond with the correct answers. Rob is clearly on a roll, as he has now won three quizzes in quick succession. He is thus a grand prize-winner and an invitation to tea at the Lords will be on its way shortly.
The answers, as will be apparent, are (1) the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, occupying the courtroom on the ground floor of the Supreme Court; (2) Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore; as some of you mention (David gives a comprehensive list), some Justices have also been to other universities, but Lord Kerr is the only one who has not studied at either Oxford or Cambridge; (3) Lord Hope of Craighead.
Lord Norton,
David does not say that Collins did study at Oxbrdige. However, I do not doubt that the data I had was wrong, it suggested that he did not and accounted (falsely perhaps) for lower degrees elsewhere — so the list is not quite omprehensive.Congratulations to Rob and Michael. Just a minor point.