News releases

11/2013 - News release

Lord Hodge joins UK Supreme Court as new Scottish Justice

30 September 2013
Lord Hodge

Lord Hodge will be sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice tomorrow, joining the UK's highest court at the start of its fifth year.

Family and friends will convene in Courtroom One at around 10am for a short swearing-in ceremony: Lord Hodge will take the Judicial Oath and Oath of Allegiance before ten of his fellow Justices of the Supreme Court, all dressed in ceremonial black and gold robes. The Justices will later process to Westminster Abbey for the service marking the opening of the legal year in England and Wales.

Lord Hodge's appointment follows the retirement of Lord Hope after seventeen years' service with the House of Lords and latterly the Supreme Court. He joins Lord Reed as the Scottish members of the Court and so continues the long-standing convention that at least two of the Court's Justices should have comprehensive experience of the Scottish legal system.

Lord Hodge was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in 2005, and has since sat in both the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh. He will first hear a case from Scotland concerning mental health legislation next week.

Lord Hodge also has a new role sitting on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), also based at the former Middlesex Guildhall in Parliament Square since 2009. The Committee serves as the court of final appeal for the UK overseas territories, Crown dependencies and for certain Commonwealth countries.

Ends


Notes to editors:
  1. Lord Hodge was the Scottish Judge in Exchequer Causes, one of the Scottish Intellectual Property Judges, a Judge in the Lands Valuation Appeal Court and a Commercial Judge. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983 and appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1996. He was a part time Law Commissioner at the Scottish Law Commission from 1997 to 2003.
  2. His appointment to the Supreme Court was announced by 10 Downing Street on 26 February 2013.
  3. The swearing-in ceremony begins at 10.00am and will last around ten minutes. It will be broadcast live over the internet through the streaming service offered by Sky News. It will also be available 'on demand' from Tuesday afternoon on the Supreme Court's YouTube channel
  4. Lord Hodge does not hold a peerage but will continue to be styled Lord Hodge in accordance with (i) his judicial title as conferred to him on his appointment as a Senator of the College of Justice and (ii) the declaration by Her Majesty The Queen in December 2010 that all Supreme Court Justices will be styled as 'Lord' or 'Lady' for life, regardless of whether or not they hold a peerage.
  5. Formal photographs of Lord Hodge will be available on request from the contacts below, following the ceremony.
Useful links:
UKSC contacts:

Ben Wilson - Head of Communications
020 7960 1887

Anthony Myers - Deputy Head of Communications
020 7960 1886