A High Court judge in Belfast has reserved judgement on whether he should disqualify himself from a hearing into whether senior barristers should be obliged to promise to serve Queen Elizabeth. A lawyer for two barristers opposed to making the declaration formally asked Mr Justice Kerr to remove himself from the case. The request followed allegations that judges in the North had already been consulted on the subject and could not fairly preside over a judicial review into it.
The two applicants, Barry Macdonald and Seamus Treacy, were to have been formally called to the Inner Bar, becoming Queen's Counsels, in Belfast along with 10 colleagues two weeks ago. They stayed away from the ceremony because they would have been obliged to declare they would well and truly serve Queen Elizabeth.
