Britain prepares to open first Supreme Court

LONDON – They've already ditched the wigs and hung up their ermine-trimmed robes. Now Britain's most senior judges are preparing to leave the House of Lords entirely, moving from Parliament's upper chamber to a dedicated Supreme Court in a major upheaval of Britain's messy — and unwritten — constitution.

The country's new Supreme Court opens on Oct. 1, when the Law Lords — a dozen senior judges who currently sit as members of Parliament's House of Lords and serve as the country's highest court of appeal — make a formal procession across London's Parliament Square to their new courthouse home.

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Once sworn in, the 12 justices won't be allowed to return to the House of Lords until they have retired. Justices appointed in future will not be members of Parliament and will have no link to the House of Lords.

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A specially designed carpet by Peter Blake — who created the cover art to the Beatles' landmark album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" — uses the traditional symbols of the four nations of the U.K.: an English rose, Scottish thistle, Northern Irish flax flower and a Welsh leek.

The new court will also be the final point of appeal for about 30 British territories overseas and many Commonwealth nations, including Jamaica, a host of other Caribbean islands, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Bermuda

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