(LONDON) - Britain's ratification of the European Union reform treaty was abruptly put on hold Friday by a last-minute legal hurdle that added a fresh twist to the bloc's latest institutional crisis.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, attending an EU summit in Brussels, agreed to delay ratification of the Lisbon Treaty pending a High Court ruling -- expected next week -- on a legal bid to force a referendum in Britain on the document.

"Ratification will not take place of course until we have the judgment," said Brown on the sidelines of the summit, where last week's rejection of the treaty in a referendum in Ireland cast a pall over the proceedings.

The High Court ruling is due next week, leaving Britain's almost-complete ratification process on hold for the time being.

The unexpected turn of events came after businessman Stuart Wheeler applied for a judicial review of Britain's refusal to hold a referendum, claiming the government was "stifling democracy".

Judge David Richards said he plans to rule on Wheeler's case next week, as he expressed surprise that the government was pressing ahead with ratification despite the pending decision.

"The court is very surprised that the government apparently proposes to ratify while the claimant's challenge to the decision not to hold a referendum on ratification is before the court," he said.

"The court expects judgment to be handed down next week. The defendants (the government) are invited to stay their hand voluntarily until judgment."

The Lisbon Treaty bill was given royal assent on Thursday after being approved by both houses of Parliament, despite protests led by the main opposition Conservative Party which called for a referendum.

But the ultimate step in the ratification process would come when Britain deposits its "instruments of ratification" in Rome -- home of the Rome Treaty of 1957 which set the cornerstone of what is today the European Union.

Prior to Friday's developments, a Foreign Office spokesman said London planned to deposit its instruments of ratification "within weeks" and probably before parliament's summer break.

In Brussels, Brown said that the process from Royal Assent to final ratification takes days and in some cases weeks."

"The judge has now replied that he expects to give his judgement next week and of course that fits in with our timetable, (given) all the different procedures before ratification," he said.

Wheeler -- a financial contributor to the opposition Conservative Party, which has long demanded a British referendum -- welcomed the judge's move. "The government cannot simply ignore the impending judgment," he said.

"You have to ask why the government felt it necessary to rush through the ratification of this treaty when only last night European leaders agreed to give the Irish 'time and space' to react after last week's 'no' vote."

The businessman launched the legal action on the basis that the governing Labour Party promised a referendum on the EU constitution in last election manifesto.

Eurosceptics claim that the Lisbon Treaty, which replaced the doomed constitution after its rejection by French and Dutch voters in 2005, is virtually the same document, and therefore requires a public vote.

Wheeler added that he could take the case to the Court of Appeal if it is rejected next week.

"I hope to win. If I do lose, I will have to see how strong the judgment is, consult my QC and take my decision at that point," he told BBC radio. "I certainly have a legal right .. to appeal to the Court of Appeal."

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