Judgment was reserved yesterday in a legal action brought by two Belfast barristers over a controversial declaration to serve the queen.
The declaration forms part of the ceremony at which members of the Junior Bar are elevated to the Senior Bar and become Queen's Counsel.
Barristers Seamus Treacy and Barry MacDonald refused to make the declaration last December and were prevented from taking part in the ceremony when 10 of their colleagues were made QCs.
They say the declaration discriminates against them as nationalists and is an affront to their political sensibilities. They want the Lord Chancellor to adopt an alternative declaration, omitting any reference to the queen, which has been approved by the Bar Council.
