Marking one of the more dramatic reforms in the British legal system, the new Supreme Court was sworn in yesterday.  Replacing the Law Lords on their ridiculously high benches, the new high court is more eye level but no less grand in gold trimmed robes and their £60 million new courtroom in the old Middlesex Guildhall.  The establishment of the new court fulfilled a long delayed Labour Party promise, although critics claim it was "dreamed up over a glass of whisky" by Tony Blair to replace the old Lord Chancellor as high court judge with Lord Falconer, Blair's old roommate. Nonetheless, it establishes more independence in the court system in a nation with fewer formal checks-and-balances than any other common law nation.

There is a good article in the Online Daily Mail with all the details and photos of the new judges and their new digs.

Photo: Online Daily Mail