Open Court

One would not normally be allowed to take photographs inside the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) but today the RCJ was participating in London Open House and I was invited back to reprise the talk I gave about the work of the courts when I worked there. I was allocated Court 2, one of the original 12 courtrooms when the RCJ opened in 1882, and I gave 3 talks headed "Without fear or favour - how courts decide with reference to cases old and new". The phrase 'without fear or favour' comes from the judicial oath and I got all the attendees to take the oath, albeit most were reluctant to read it out loud, so that they could become High Court judges for the  duration of my talk and tell me how they would have decided the cases I referred to. In practice, and it was a point I emphasised in my talk, judges in this country are appointed independently of government. They are not political appointees. A body called the Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for their recruitment. One of the fee-paid roles I took on after retiring from the Courts Service was as a Panel Chair for the JAC. Typically a panel will comprise an independent (ie not a lawyer) panel member, a judicial panel member (usually a senior judge from the jurisdiction concerned) and an independent (again, not a lawyer) panel chair. The independent panel member for the exercise I am currently chairing is a retired Assistant Chief Constable but they could be drawn from any working background. I see 
It as an essential public service to support and maintain an independent judiciary. The RCJ was packed today and there were lots of other talks and activities going on to keep visitors engaged, quite apart from enjoying finding out about the magnificent Grade 1 listed building itself. As I told my audiences, it was great that they were visiting the courts today but they could come in on any working day and sit in on a case, as transparency - seeing justice being done - is another fundamental principle of our justice system.