Remedy
Start free

Section 51B: Powers of search, exclusion, removal and restraint

Constitutional Reform Act 2005 · 2005 c. 4View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 3: The Supreme Court

A Supreme Court security officer acting in the execution of the officer's duty may search—

any person who is in, or seeking to enter, a court building, and
any article in the possession of such a person.

Subsection (1) does not authorise a Supreme Court security officer to require a person to remove any of the person's clothing other than a coat, jacket, headgear, gloves or footwear.

A Supreme Court security officer acting in the execution of the officer's duty may exclude or remove from a court building, or a part of a court building, any person who refuses—

to permit a search under subsection (1), or
to surrender an article in the person's possession when asked to do so under section 51C(1).

A Supreme Court security officer acting in the execution of the officer's duty may—

restrain any person who is in a court building, or
exclude or remove any person from a court building, or a part of a court building,

if it is reasonably necessary to do so for one of the purposes given in subsection (5).

The purposes are—

enabling business of the Supreme Court, or of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, to be carried on without interference or delay;
maintaining order;
securing the safety of any person in the court building.

A Supreme Court security officer acting in the execution of the officer's duty may remove any person from a courtroom at the request of—

a judge of the Supreme Court, or
a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The powers given by subsections (3), (4) and (6) include power to use reasonable force, where necessary.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.