Wilfred Greene, 1st Baron Greene

Wilfred Arthur Greene, 1st Baron Greene MC, OBE, KC, PC (30 December 1883 – 16 April 1952) was a British lawyer and judge.

Education and Military Service

Greene was educated at Westminster College London, England. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1906 with a BA. He was admitted to Inner Temple in 1908 entitled to practice as a Barrister-at-Law. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1912 with an Oxbridge MA. He gained the rank of Captain in the service of the 2/1st Battalion,Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He fought in the First World War between 1914 and 1918. He was decorated with the award of the MC in 1918. He was decorated with the award of Cavaliere, Order of the Crown of Italy. He was decorated with the award of Croix de Guerre. He was invested with an OBE in 1919. [1]

Legal and judicial career

Greene was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1935 to 1937. He served as Master of the Rolls between 1937 and 1949, and subsequently became a Law Lord. On 16 July 1941 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Greene, of Holmbury St Mary in the County of Surrey.^[1] The title became extinct on his death in April 1952, aged 68.

Greene was a master of administrative law – indeed it is difficult to exaggerate his contribution to this field. Despite some refinements, the Wednesbury doctrine of reasonableness (see citation below) remains the benchmark by which courts review decisions of public bodies. Of equal significance was his enunciation of the Carltona doctrine in Carltona Ltd. v. Commissioners of Public Works [1943] 2 All E.R. 560 that "the duties imposed upon Ministers and the powers given to Ministers are normally exercised under the authority of the Minister by responsible officials of the Department". It may be said that the Carltona doctrine is the legal underpinning for the operation of the civil service in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Honours

• Military Cross in 1918.
• OBE in 1919.
• KC in 1922.
• Cavaliere, Order of the Crown of Italy
• Croix de Guerre
• Knight Bachelor in 1935.
• Privy Councillor in 1935.
• Raised to the Peerage in 1941

Cases

• Associated Provincial Picture Houses v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223
• Re Smith & Fawcett [1942] Ch. 304

References

• Jeremy Lever, ‘Greene, Wilfrid Arthur, Baron Greene (1883–1952)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004