Nigeria, Sept. 8 -- When the House of Lords, as the upper chamber of the UK Parliament is called, debated the Courts Bill introduced by the government of Edward Heath in December 1970, Lord Hailsham was in the Woolsack as the Lord Chancellor. His father, the first Viscount Hailsham, had served his first tour of duty in the same position a mere 42 years earlier. As the debate proceeded on the bill, Lord Hailsham reminded the prospective judge to "approach the Bench with the enthusiasm of a bridegroom approaching marriage, or of a priest approaching priesthood."

In the British system, the relationships entailed between a groom and his spouse or a priest with his Bishop, excluded multiple partners or patrons; but just as alimentary wellbein...