Thomas Edward Scrutton
| The Right Honourable Sir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lord Brampton. | |
| King's Bench Division | |
| Court of Appeal | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1856 London |
| Died | 1934 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton (1856–1934) was an English legal text-writer and judge.
Biography
Thomas Edward Scrutton was born in London, UK. He studied as a scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge,[1] then at University College London. After an outstanding academic career he developed a busy practice in commercial cases, and wrote The Contract of Affreightment as Expressed in Charter-parties and Bills of Lading (1886). Over a century later, this is still the standard text, while several of his other legal works remain useful. He was a judge of the King's Bench Division (1910–16) and of the Court of Appeal (1916–34).[2] He frequently sat in the Court of Appeal with Bankes [3] and Atkin LJJ, a combination which has often been cited as one of the strongest benches in commercial cases.[4] On the criminal side he presided over the celebrated 1915 " Brides-in-the-Bath " trial of George Joseph Smith, and made a crucial ruling on "similar fact evidence" :Smith was charged with murdering only one of his recent brides by drowning her in the bath, but Scrutton ruled that the fact that two of his other brides had died in almost identical circumstances was admissible as evidence of a method or pattern of murder.
Despite his great ability, Scrutton had a reputation as a difficult judge to appear before : "he did not suffer fools gladly , and often refused to suffer them at all " was one verdict. His intolerance extended even to other judges, particularly Sir Henry McCardie whom he attacked with increasing bitterness until their mutual antipathy resulted in a public quarrel. His reputation as a difficult judge may explain his failure to achieve further promotion to the House of Lords, since he was unquestionably well qualified on merit.
References
- ↑ "Scrutton, Thomas Edward (SCRN876TE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ Online Encyclopedia: Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton
- ↑ See The Rowers of Vanity Fair/Bankes JE
- ↑ E.g. in Borealis Ab v. Stargas Limited and Others and Bergesen D.Y. A/S [2001] UKHL 17; [2001] 2 All ER 193, per Lord Hobhouse at para 20; Imageview Management Ltd v. Kelvin Jack [2009] EWCA Civ 63 per Jacob LJ at para 20 and per Mummery LJ at para 64.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Edward Scrutton. |
|