Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
THE UK SUPREME COURT YEARBOOK 2018-2019
Volume 10
Edited by Daniel Clarry
ISBN 978 1 91125 026 5
APPELLATE PRESS
ukscy.org.uk
THE COURT OF IMPORTANT, FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT, CONTROVERSIAL AND CONTENTIOUS CASES
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister” and Mediator
It can’t be too often that ‘The Supreme Court Yearbook’ gets an almost affectionate mention in the Times (TMS) Diary. But this year (as soon as published) it does, or rather, it did -- and good thing too, because certainly this annually published volume should ideally attract the interest of a wider public.
In reading the foreword to the Yearbook by former President of the Supreme Court, Baroness Hale of Richmond, it seems that the Times diarist was intrigued by her expression of regret over the ‘spider brooch incident’ -- referring to the item of jewellery she wore while -- in the words of the diarist -- ‘overturning Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament two years ago’.
She explains that she often wears a brooch ‘usually to liven up our normally quiet sober dress,’ adding that she should have foreseen that ‘the public and media would look for a hidden message.’
It is to be hoped that slightly better-informed members of the public and media might recognize that members of the Supreme
Court have a heavy time of it, sitting in judgment over the most important and fiendishly difficult, controversial, and contentious cases in the country. You could argue here that sobriety of dress becomes less an issue than an imperative.
As this is the year that the UK Supreme Court celebrates its tenth anniversary, the lively and clearly written text of this yearbook commences with recollections of how the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being.
Many will recall that the Lord Chancellor’s Department was abolished in a surprise move which quickly led to the establishment of the new Supreme Court and Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales. The UK’s top court had irrevocably left the House of Lords. The chief advocate in the matter was the Senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham, who held that ‘judges should not be legislators.’
Like any change of such magnitude, the establishment of the new Supreme Court did not come about without some measure of disquiet and controversy, including concerns about the practical problems of new premises, IT and so forth -- most out of which have been resolved.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court is the only court in the UK where court sessions are routinely filmed. ‘From the start,’ says Baroness Hale, ‘it was provided that the ban on photography and filming in court would not apply in the Supreme Court.’
The courtrooms are set up with their own cameras. There is live streaming and a ‘catch-up service’ which allows a hearing to be checked at some point and which is available both to the professionals and the public. And apparently there have been no problems about advocates ‘grandstanding’ for the cameras.
Accessibility to members of the public is another innovation implemented by the Supreme Court. Pop in and pop out again if you will. There’s a reception desk -- and wonder of wonders, the security staff are actually friendly. (In view of the frequently rude, hostile, dictatorial and generally forbidding security staff in a number of other courts, this is difficult to believe, but certainly a welcome development.)
Over its more than 800 pages, the Yearbook itself is organised into three parts. Part I contains the reflections of five Supreme Court Justices and other commentators. Part II features contributions on the ‘Prorogation Case’ and in Part III, there’s a comprehensive analysis of all decisions of the Court from its tenth legal year, with much of this undertaken by leading advocates who have argued many of these cases.
An editorial board of five -- and an eleven-member advisory board have presided over the formidable task of producing an impressive, highly readable volume with fascinating content, which should certainly enthral a legal readership as well as interested members of the general public.
The date of publication of this hardback volume is cited as August 2021.
BOOK REVIEW
THE UK SUPREME COURT YEARBOOK 2018-2019
Volume 10
Edited by Daniel Clarry
ISBN 978 1 91125 026 5
APPELLATE PRESS
ukscy.org.uk
THE COURT OF IMPORTANT, FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT, CONTROVERSIAL AND CONTENTIOUS CASES
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister” and Mediator
It can’t be too often that ‘The Supreme Court Yearbook’ gets an almost affectionate mention in the Times (TMS) Diary. But this year (as soon as published) it does, or rather, it did -- and good thing too, because certainly this annually published volume should ideally attract the interest of a wider public.
In reading the foreword to the Yearbook by former President of the Supreme Court, Baroness Hale of Richmond, it seems that the Times diarist was intrigued by her expression of regret over the ‘spider brooch incident’ -- referring to the item of jewellery she wore while -- in the words of the diarist -- ‘overturning Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament two years ago’.
She explains that she often wears a brooch ‘usually to liven up our normally quiet sober dress,’ adding that she should have foreseen that ‘the public and media would look for a hidden message.’
It is to be hoped that slightly better-informed members of the public and media might recognize that members of the Supreme
Court have a heavy time of it, sitting in judgment over the most important and fiendishly difficult, controversial, and contentious cases in the country. You could argue here that sobriety of dress becomes less an issue than an imperative.
As this is the year that the UK Supreme Court celebrates its tenth anniversary, the lively and clearly written text of this yearbook commences with recollections of how the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being.
Many will recall that the Lord Chancellor’s Department was abolished in a surprise move which quickly led to the establishment of the new Supreme Court and Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales. The UK’s top court had irrevocably left the House of Lords. The chief advocate in the matter was the Senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham, who held that ‘judges should not be legislators.’
Like any change of such magnitude, the establishment of the new Supreme Court did not come about without some measure of disquiet and controversy, including concerns about the practical problems of new premises, IT and so forth -- most out of which have been resolved.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court is the only court in the UK where court sessions are routinely filmed. ‘From the start,’ says Baroness Hale, ‘it was provided that the ban on photography and filming in court would not apply in the Supreme Court.’
The courtrooms are set up with their own cameras. There is live streaming and a ‘catch-up service’ which allows a hearing to be checked at some point and which is available both to the professionals and the public. And apparently there have been no problems about advocates ‘grandstanding’ for the cameras.
Accessibility to members of the public is another innovation implemented by the Supreme Court. Pop in and pop out again if you will. There’s a reception desk -- and wonder of wonders, the security staff are actually friendly. (In view of the frequently rude, hostile, dictatorial and generally forbidding security staff in a number of other courts, this is difficult to believe, but certainly a welcome development.)
Over its more than 800 pages, the Yearbook itself is organised into three parts. Part I contains the reflections of five Supreme Court Justices and other commentators. Part II features contributions on the ‘Prorogation Case’ and in Part III, there’s a comprehensive analysis of all decisions of the Court from its tenth legal year, with much of this undertaken by leading advocates who have argued many of these cases.
An editorial board of five -- and an eleven-member advisory board have presided over the formidable task of producing an impressive, highly readable volume with fascinating content, which should certainly enthral a legal readership as well as interested members of the general public.
The date of publication of this hardback volume is cited as August 2021.
