New artwork
Supreme Court emblem
The Supreme Court’s official emblem was designed by Yvonne Holton, Herald Painter at the Court of Lord Lyon in Scotland. It uses traditional symbolism, yet is delicate and modern at the same time.
The emblem combines four heraldic elements, equally represented in the design, reflecting the jurisdictions within the United Kingdom:
- England: a symmetrical five-petalled wild rose, with stalk and leaves, an English symbol since the Tudor dynasty
- Wales: the green leaves of a leek, deriving from the medieval legend that St David ordered his Welsh soldiers to wear leeks on their helmets during a battle against the Saxons
- Scotland: a purple thistle, associated with the tradition that an early Scottish army was saved when barefooted Viking invaders stepped on prickly thistles in the dark, crying out in pain and waking the defenders
- Northern Ireland: a light blue five-petalled flax flower, representing the linen-weaving industry which was so valuable that nineteenth century Belfast was known as ‘Linenopolis’
These four national elements are embraced by an almost-circular frame representing both Libra, the scales of justice, and Omega, symbolising the final source of justice for the United Kingdom.
At its most formal level, the Royal Crown surmounts the emblem, as the Monarch is the source of The Supreme Court’s authority.
Queen Elizabeth II bas-relief sculpture
A bronze bas-relief of Queen Elizabeth II is mounted in the lobby area towards the front of the Court.
The sculpture, made by Ian Rank-Broadley, was unveiled by Her Majesty at the official opening of the Court on 16 October 2009.
Ian Rank-Broadley is one of the U.K.’s leading sculptors and it is his image of the Queen that appears on U.K. and Commonwealth coins.
Interiors
Renovating the Middlesex Guildhall to transform it into The Supreme Court included a strategy to incorporate art into the fabric of the building.
A panel led by Lady Hale advised on many areas within the building to ensure the historic nature of the building was not compromised by the introduction of new features.
Entrance hall
The designers Feilden + Mawson had a vision for the entrance to The Supreme Court that would be more striking than the small door leading into the Middlesex Guildhall.
The wooden double doors at the front of the building open into the entrance hall, where visitors are met by the emblem of The Supreme Court emblazoned on glass panels. On ceremonial days these are opened and lead to double doors into the Library. In turn the Library doors are etched with the Magna Carta.
The entrance hall’s functionality is balanced with decorative inscriptions on floor to ceiling glass panels. Designed by Bettina Furnee, these combine elements of The Supreme Court emblem and phrases of the Judicial Oath etched on to the glass.
Court 1
All three court rooms are furnished with custom-made crescent shaped benches for the Justices and legal teams.
An important aspect of the renovation involved converting the court rooms from their previous imposing, adversarial atmosphere to an environment of discussion and debate. Much of the The original Middlesex Council Chamber furniture had fallen into disrepair, and has been modified for more modern use.
The pop-art carpet designed by Sir Peter Blake of 'Sergeant Pepper' fame brightens up the room with symbols representing the four nations of the United Kingdom.
The Middlesex Guildhall Lectern
This lectern and stand, which are exhibited outside Court One, were commissioned by a group of Judges, led by His Honour Judge Blacksell QC, who formerly sat in the Crown Court at the Middlesex Guildhall.
The lectern was created from wood used in the old Council Chamber (now Court One), and was designed and built by David Stanton.
The lectern was presented to The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (UKSC) in March 2010 and is used regularly at events held in the UKSC.
Court 2
The most modern of the three court rooms, Court Two was returned to its original height and dimensions.
The walls are decorated with wall hangings by Timorous Beasties and a large glass sculpture of The Supreme Court emblem.
On entry to the room visitors can either stand behind an etched glass screen to watch proceedings, or enter the Court itself and sit in the public gallery.
The screen is etched with the words: “Justice cannot be for one side alone but must be for both”.
Library
At the heart of the building is the law library, a triple-height space created for the Justices and their assistants to contemplate and study case law.
Dark wood shelves are set off by red leather reading surfaces, and an enlarged emblem woven into the carpet on the ground floor. The ceiling is magnificently rendered and painted to look like stone, and a wood and glass balustrade is engraved with pithy quotes chosen by the Justices themselves:
- 'Law is order and good law is good order' - Aristotle
- 'He who commits injustice is ever more wretched than he who suffers it' - Plato
- 'These having not the law are law unto themselves' - Romans 2:14
- 'Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable web of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects us all indirectly' - Martin Luther King
- 'The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth' - Cicero
- 'Justice is truth in action' - Disraeli
- 'Where is there any book of law so clear to each man as that written in his heart?' - Tolstoy
- 'Justice is far from being a natural concept. The closer one gets to the state of nature, the less does one find' - Megarry
- 'Man is a little thing while he works by and for himself but when he gives voice to the rules of love and justice he is godlike' - Ralph Waldo Emerson
- 'It is in justice that the ordering of society is centred' - Aristotle
- 'Laws were made to prevent the strong from always having their way' - Ovid
Supreme Court poem
The Supreme Court poem was written by Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate between 1999 - 2009, to mark the creation of the Supreme Court.
The poem is enscribed on the semi-circular stone benches opposite the main entrance.
Lines for The Supreme Court
Tides tumbled sand through seas long-lost to earth;
Sand hardened into-stone – stone cut, then brought
To frame the letter of our four nations’ law
And square the circle of a single court.
Here Justice sits and lifts her steady scales
Within the Abbey’s sight and Parliaments
But independent of them both. And bound
By truth of principle and argument.
A thousand years of judgment stretch behind –
The weight of rights and freedoms balancing
With fairness and with duty to the world:
The clarity time-honoured thinking brings.
New structures but an old foundation stone:
The mind of Justice still at liberty
Four nations separate but linked as one:
The light of reason falling equally.
Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate 1999-2009