08:13

Lord Justice Leggatt, the latest appointment to the UK’s highest court, has been sworn in at a ceremony watched online by most of his supreme court colleagues, writes my colleague Owen Bowcott.

As the justice system adapts to remote working, the court in Westminster held a closed ceremony in the supreme court library at which the only other justice present was the court president, Lord Reed.

Swearing-in ceremonies usually take place in the building’s main courtroom and are attended by all the justices, as well as by the family and friends of the judge being sworn in. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the event had to be modified and was held behind closed doors.

The swearing-in could not take place entirely by video - in the way that many cases are now being heard - because the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which established the supreme court, requires that anyone appointed as a justice must take the required oaths in the “presence” of the president of the court

Lord Justice Leggatt, who read philosophy at Cambridge University, practised as a barrister mainly in commercial cases. He has previously been a high court and court of appeal judge. There are currently 10 male and two female justices on the supreme court.

