Houses of Parliament & The Supreme Court visit

At the invitation of St Leonards on Sea Rotary Club some members of Senlac joined the trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court. The guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, no photos allowed, was made more interesting as Michael Foster, former MP for Hastings and Rye, was leading our group. We learned of the history of the building and the institutions and visited the Central Lobby, the two Chambers, Commons and Lords, and Westminster Hall.

The Supreme Court is a few minutes’ walk and occupies the former Middlesex County Hall. The Court is the highest in the UK and replaced the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, the Law Lords who sat in the House of Lords. The court was opened in 2009 following the 2005 Constitutional Reform Act. The court hears civil cases from all parts of the UK and criminal cases from England Wales and Northern Ireland, but cases will normally have been heard in a number of lower courts before arriving here. There is also a court for the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which is the highest court of appeal for many Commonwealth countries, as well as the United Kingdom’s overseas territories, crown dependencies, and military sovereign base areas. It also hears very occasional appeals from a number of ancient and ecclesiastical courts.  These include the Church Commissioners, the Arches Court of Canterbury, the Chancery Court of York, prize courts and the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports.

A very interesting and informative day which is highly recommended to others.