I am delighted to be here, on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, to welcome you to this year's Commonwealth Law Conference.
It is a great privilege for us in London to have the opportunity to host this event again after 50 years.
This is particularly so as we in London wish to thank you all for the messages of support and sympathy we received after the terrible events in July.
The spirit and the values of the nation are tested by terrorist attacks.
No one shares our values, and understands our spirit better than our friends in the Commonwealth. You have stood with us in our darkest hours.
Your support and your unflinching faith in our values means a great deal to us all.
Those terrorist attacks, coming as they do as part of a concerted attack on our fundamental values of tolerance, democracy and the rule of law throughout the world, require us to review our laws, and to ensure they provide us with the best defences against terrorism we can have.
But not at the cost of those fundamental values I have described.
The bedrock of freedom is the certain knowledge that the courts will be free and independent - able, in reality, to enforce the law, without fear or favour.
In the royal courts of justice in Belfast there is a modest commemorative plaque to five people: William John Staunton; Rodger Hugh Conaghan; Robert Martin McBirney; William Patrick Doyle; and Maurice Wright Gibson. Each one of them was a judge in Northern Ireland. The IRA murdered each one of them. The plaque says: "In memory of the members of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland holding judicial office who lost their lives upholding the rule of law."
Judicial independence does not come from nowhere. It comes from being reared in a legal profession where independence and quality are the watchwords, which determine your standing.
They are the watchwords of the legal professions throughout each of the countries that make up the Commonwealth.
And we know, all too well, that in some of those countries that independence - both judicial and legal - is under threat.
Commonwealth solidarity against those threats is vital, and it is sustaining.
We will return with all our hearts the support we have been given to those of the Commonwealth legal family under threat in other countries.
For those of you who are practising lawyers, be open to change and innovation. Fight as hard as you can for your client. But remember that the values of our society survived, and survive, in so many countries because there was, and is, a pool of people from those countries for whom independence and public service have become part of their DNA.
The areas of law covered by this conference are extensive. They reflect the extent to which the law is moving to accommodate the changes in the way the world trades, protects children, and fights crime and terrorism.
There is so much we can learn by coming to-gether. Inevitably, the thing we most learn and are constantly surprised by is that we face the same problems, and we have dealt with them in a similar way.
There is another good reason why the Commonwealth Law Conference should be in London this year. Because it coincides with the month in which Harry Woolf retires as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
He has been a great Lord Chief Justice, and, also, a great and courageous friend to judges and lawyers all over the world. Valiantly travelling the world to share the values which we all hold dear. We honour Harry in this conference.
We come together for this conference one day after the 4th anniversary of 11th September. Nothing shows more our ability to withstand the threats of terrorists than the fact that you arrive in a country on 12th September where, beyond argument, the most gripping preoccupation of the English and other major Commonwealth partners is whether England will, after twenty years, recover the ashes.
We will see much of each other over the next few days. We will revive old friendships, and make new ones.
And we will renew again our sense that we are all part of a great legal family who, by keeping true to our values, preserve the flame of freedom in the world.
Enjoy, learn, relax, and exchange ideas and experiences.
London and the UK legal family welcome you with warmth and anticipation.