The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for people to ‘tweet’ from inside the courtroom last week.

The court issued guidance on the use of live text-based communication from the courtroom by legal teams, journalists and members of the public.

Since the guidance was issued, the lord chief justice has also issued a public consultation seeking views on the use of Twitter by the media.

The Supreme Court said it would permit tweeting from court because the cases before it do not involve interaction with witnesses or jurors, so there is no reason why what is said in court should not be put in the public domain immediately.

However, tweeting will not be permitted in cases where there are formal reporting restrictions, family cases involving the welfare of a child, cases where publication of proceedings might prejudice a pending jury trial, and other exceptions.

The guidance is limited to the Supreme Court.

President of the Supreme Court Lord Phillips said the rapid development of communications technology brings both opportunities and challenges for the justice system.

He said: ‘An undoubted benefit is that regular updates can be shared with many people outside the court, in real time, which can enhance public interest in the progress of a case... We can offer a green light to tweeting.’

See judiciary.gov.uk for details of the consultation.