Law chiefs from around the world have come to Brighton for a four-day conference.
More than 180 chief justices, judges and magistrates converged for their annual conference at Brighton University.
The 40th Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association conference was opened by Mrs Justice Norma Wade-Miller, the association’s president, and Professor Julian Crampton, the university’s vice-chancellor.
Professor Crampton said that students from 100 countries were studying at the university and law was becoming an increasingly popular subject.
He said: “We have a very large business faculty, the Brighton Business School, which includes the law group, and I am very pleased that the area of law is one which is undergoing a very real development and expansion within the university.”
Keynote speakers at the conference, held in Mithras House, included Lord Igor Judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
The association is a British-based charity, and conference delegates from 35 countries, including Canada, the Falkland Islands, Ghana and Papua New Guinea, discussed topics focused on Commonwealth justice and judicial independence and standards.
Subjects included forced marriages, war crimes tribunals and pirates off Somalia.
A keynote speech entitled “Protecting the liberty of the individual” was given by magistrate and academic Jonathan Black-Branch JP, professor of international law at Brighton University.
