Lord Chief Justice, Minister, Your Excellencies, My Lords, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to Lancaster House. It is a great privilege for me to have you all here as my guests.
I am glad to welcome you here to London on the eve of the opening of our Legal Year. The gathering of the judges, and the legal profession for the opening of the legal year has been going on since all of us can remember, and for a long time before that.
I think for all judges, and lawyers in England and Wales it is a very special day. It is a day of tradition, of shared values and demonstrated commitment to some basic principles. So much of judging, and law is a solitary function that it is good that from time to time we do things together.
And it is right we demonstrate our solidarity to those principles that we share.
It is a true pleasure to see so many people here from so many different countries. Our legal systems have of course developed in different ways. But our commitment to dispensing justice that is fair, that is measured and so impartial, remains the same across the world.
As international trade and commerce grows, and also, sadly, international terrorism, co-operation between countries, and legal systems within them, increasingly becomes important.
Our dedication to that cross-border co-operation can be seen in the many projects that we are as a country involved in, that strengthen and deepen our awareness of each other's legal systems.
Greater globalisation emphasises the need to co-operate, and the need to learn from each other. We have in the United Kingdom so much to learn. But we also have so much to offer. The United Kingdom has a major role in providing legal services, training, and judicial and administrative reform which is exportable right across the world.
But as I say, we have so much to learn from others. We understand that study of other legal systems is vital if our system is to grow and develop. We fund projects training Chinese lawyers and judges, and study visits for young leaders in former Soviet States. We are engaged in bi-lateral projects with Poland on Courts Innovation. I have just returned from Italy and am soon to go to Canada to look at their excellent achievements in increasing diversity in the judiciary.
I hope that this spirit of learning and understanding will continue.
We are engaged in the UK in a process of significant constitutional reform.
But that process will not obscure the basic principles on which our system is based. The independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law.
Laws inevitably need changing as the threats which society face change, and the nature of relationships - trading relationships, personal relationships and commercial relationships - change both within our borders and across our borders.
That laws need changing and relationships change make it all the more important that the legal systems of the world, and those who work them retain close ties, and mutual understanding. We face, I believe, the same challenges. We need to craft solutions in partnership. We need to support each other in facing these challenges.
I also believe that lawyers and judges also increasingly represent a bond across borders which transcends the differences which may exist at a political level. There is nothing like identical problems of enforcement of maintenance orders, or new forms of IT crime to bring all of our countries together.
So I very much welcome what has now become a good tradition of this dinner for foreign visitors before tomorrow's ceremony where I, accompanied by our senior judges can welcome from abroad so many distinguished visitors.
Whilst it's invidious to single out particular guests, can I do precisely that by particularly welcoming the President of the International Court Judge Shi Jiuyong, I am greatly honoured by his presence today and Mr Andrezei Kalwas, the Minister of Justice from Poland, I am greatly honoured by his presence.
You all very welcome.
May you all enjoy greatly tomorrow's ceremony.
And may I wish you all well in your stay in the UK.
Thank you.