- Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman
Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, OBE, PC (
29 July 1911 –8 December 2004 ) was an Englishjudge andbarrister , who served as aLaw Lord until his retirement in 1986.He was born in
Streatham but grew up on the border ofSussex andSurrey . He won scholarships toRadley College and thenBrasenose College, Oxford , as a Classical Scholar, graduating in 1932 with a first.He was called to the Bar in 1936. He remained briefless until the war, which he spent in the RAF as a staff officer in England, North Africa, and then continental Europe and he was present with Lord Tedder when the German surrender was accepted in Berlin. [cite book | last=Mortimer | first=John | title=Character Parts | location=London | publisher=Penguin | year=1986 | isbn=0-14-008959-4] He returned to law in 1945, practising from
Fountain Court Chambers inLondon , and became a QC in 1957, and aHigh Court judge in 1961 – assigned to the Family Division. He joined the Court of Appeal in 1973 and was Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, a Law Lord, from 1977 until his retirement in 1986.He was appointed head of the
Law Commission from 1965 to 1973, during which time 27 Commission-inspired statutes were made law.As a judge, Scarman's career had some controversial decisions. Although widely regarded as a liberal, he upheld the
blasphemy conviction of "Gay News " (1979), punctured the GLC's "Fare's Fair" low-cost public transport policy (1981), and supported the banning oftrade union s at GCHQ (1985).He is best known for chairing thepublic inquiry on the causes of therace riot s in Brixton in 1981. He also chaired inquiries into theNorthern Ireland riots of August 1969 (1969-1972), theRed Lion Square disorders (1975) and theGrunwick dispute (1977).After entering the House of Lords the more liberal aspects of his character dominated – he was chancellor of the
University of Warwick , president of theBritish Institute of Human Rights , and worked on behalf of thePrince's Trust , theBirmingham Six , andCharter 88 amongst many other projects.In 1991 he set up theScarman Trust .He was created an OBE in 1944, knighted in 1961, made a
Privy Councillor in 1973, and raised to thePeerage in 1977 as Baron Scarman, of Quatt in the County of Shropshire.He married Ruth Wright in 1947, with whom he had one son. He died in 2004. [ [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/minutes/041213/ldminute.htm Announcement of his death at the House of Lords] House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 13 December 2004.]
Famous judgments
* "Whitehouse -v- Lemon; Whitehouse -v- Gay News Ltd On Appeal From Regina -v- Lemon" [1979] 2 WLR 281 [ [http://www.swarb.co.uk/c/hl/1979Whitehouse-GayNews.html Lawindexpro: case report] ]
* "Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital" [1985] AC 871In popular culture
Lord Scarman appeared in the final episode of series one of the
BBC1 drama "Ashes to Ashes", played by Geoffrey Palmer.References
External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3631579.stm BBC News on the Scarman Report]
* [http://www.thescarmantrust.org/ The Scarman Trust web site]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1370555,00.html Obituary] "(The Guardian )"
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/10/db1001.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/12/10/ixportal.html Obituary] "(Daily Telegraph )"
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