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Legal writer and fellow blogger Joshua Rozenberg suggests that the Queen has agreed that all justices of the Supreme Court may be referred to as "Lord" or "Lady", even though those to be appointed from now onwards will not be given peerages.
According to an entry on Joshua’s blog, this decison has been made but has not yet been made public. Posting on his blog yesterday he says:
"Law lords to stay
The Queen has agreed that all justices of the Supreme Court may be referred to as "Lord" or "Lady", even though those to be appointed from now onwards will not be given peerages.
The decision, which has not yet been announced, is a sensible solution that I have urged for some years. “Justice of the Supreme Court Sumption” is too much of a mouthful. “Justice Sumption” would demote him to below the rank of a High Court judge. “Sir Jonathan Sumption” — the title he could put on his cheque-books — would make him seem inferior to his fellow judges.
As a result of decision, we shall continue to refer to members of the Supreme Court as “law lords”. It will be as if nothing had ever changed".
If this is correct it will mean that the Justices of the Supreme Court will be in the same position as Judges of the Court of Session – with the honorary title "Lord" but without (in the future) the corresponding peerage. There are other precedents. Our more scholarly readers will recall that until 1873 the judges of the Court of Exchequer were known as "Barons" – Mr Baron Parke, Mr Baron Bramwell and so on – whereas, in real life, they were no such thing – often plain "Mr".
