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  "path": "/politics/david-lammy-ancient-court-new-name",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-04T19:48:47.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Nigel Farage's Henry Nowak response proves he's 'completely unfit to be PM', minister tells GB News",
    "Labour's heat pump plans under threat amid 'serious' shortage of skilled workers",
    "Sadiq Khan told by Muslim author to 'put Islam first' after supporting LGBT Pride events",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nDavid Lammy has announced plans to change the centuries-old name of the High Court's Chancery Division.\n\nThe historic court will instead be known as the \"Business and Property Division\" following a restructuring of High Court divisions.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nOfficials justified the change on efficiency grounds, arguing it will \"make it easier for court users to understand where to bring their cases, improving clarity and access to justice\".\n\nCritics have questioned whether experienced lawyers genuinely require such assistance in determining where to file claims and expressed dismay a name embedded in English cultural heritage could be discarded so readily.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe name carries profound literary weight in English culture.\n\nCharles Dickens chose the Chancery Court as the atmospheric centrepiece of Bleak House, opening his novel with proceedings in Lincoln's Inn Hall shrouded in winter fog, where \"at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery\".\n\nGilbert and Sullivan built an entire comic opera around the institution.\n\nIolanthe features Phyllis, an Arcadian shepherdess who, as a ward of the Chancery, needed the Lord Chancellor's consent to wed, complicated by his own romantic interest in her.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSuch works would have been fundamentally altered had their creators faced the prosaic \"Business and Property Division\" instead.\n\nThe chancery court traces its origins to the early 1300s, making it one of England's most ancient legal institutions.\n\nUntil the Reformation, the Lord Chancellor who presided over it was typically a member of the clergy.\n\nThe court emerged to address cases in which common-law judgements appeared excessively rigid.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Nigel Farage's Henry Nowak response proves he's 'completely unfit to be PM', minister tells GB News\n  * Labour's heat pump plans under threat amid 'serious' shortage of skilled workers\n  * Sadiq Khan told by Muslim author to 'put Islam first' after supporting LGBT Pride events\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nLitigants seeking fairer outcomes would petition the Lord Chancellor, who would apply Christian principles to examine matters of conscience.\n\nThis would include whether the parties had dealt honestly, honoured their commitments, or exploited others' trust.\n\nMr Lammy is also currently pushing to scrap jury trials in England and Wales for crimes carrying a likely sentence of less than three years.\n\nThe most serious cases, such as murder, terrorism and rape, will retain juries.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nAccording to Government figures, the policy is designed to address a Crown Court backlog exceeding 70,000 cases and deliver justice about 20 per cent faster.\n\nCritics, such as campaigners and opposition voices, argue the move risks eroding fundamental rights and disproportionately impacts everyday citizens.\n\nAround 60 Labour MPs have signed a letter calling for the plans to be reconsidered.\n\nSir Keir Starmer is fully backing Mr Lammy against calls to dilute the reforms.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "David Lammy gives ancient court new name in ‘modernisation’ drive"
}