The House of Lords
Until October 2009, the House of Lords was the highest court in the United Kingdom.
Judges appointed to sit in the House of Lords were life peers, entitled to take part in the debate and enactment of Government legislation - although in practice, they rarely did so.
Their official title was Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, however they were usually known as Law Lords. There were 12 Law Lords, and their role was to hear cases from the lower courts, most often the Court of Appeal.
In recent years, there had been mounting calls for the creation of a new free–standing Supreme Court separating the highest appeal court from the second house of Parliament, and removing the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary from the legislature.
On 12 June 2003 the Government announced its intention to do so and the new Supreme Court opened for business in October 2009.
