Today is a turning point in the history of our legal system, not only because we have a new highest court in the land, but because the public will finally see justice at work.

The Supreme Court will be televised. In all other courts in England and Wales cameras are banned, but the Supreme Court was set up under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which excludes it from that ban.

This reflects its inheritance from the House of Lords, where, occasionally, parts of proceedings could be filmed, as in the case of the extradition of General Pinochet.

The reform has taken a number of steps over 20 years: a Bar Council report chaired by Jonathan Caplan, QC, in 1989, the filming of parts of the Shipman inquiry and the Hutton inquiry and the 2004 pilot project in the Court of Appeal all moved the issue of cameras in court forward.

Television viewers have also become fairly used to seeing court proceedings, outside England and Wales, on their screens. Court proceedings, for example, in Scotland in August 2009 concerning the appeal by Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi were televised.

What form will coverage take? The principles that govern the filming state that a key objective is to make the proceedings more accessible to the public.

As one would expect, the justices themselves have the final say on whether filming should be stopped. The footage will be filmed and recorded by the court and made available by a feed to broadcasters.

The film can be used only for news, current affairs and educational and legal training programmes. The cameras are to be focused on the proceedings in court and those speaking — with no broadcasting of private discussion of counsel or justices.

Realistically, it is unlikely that every case will be covered in the news but television requires footage, so the natural consequence of more footage being available is that there is likely to be more coverage. That is a good thing.

The televising of the Supreme Court is a significant step forward. For many people it will be the first time that they have seen inside a court in England.

John Battle is head of compliance at ITN and a member of the group of broadcasters championing the filming of court proceedings

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