Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley

Robert Lionel Archibald Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, PC, DCL, FBA (born 12 November 1926)^[1] is a retired British judge.

Life

Eton College

Lord Goff, High Steward of the University of Oxford, retired in 1998 as the Senior Law Lord after more than a decade as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lord) in the House of Lords. Prior to being created a Law lord and receiving a life peerage as Baron Goff of Chieveley in the County of Berkshire in 1986, Lord Goff studied at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. On 1 October 1996, The Lord Keith of Kinkel retired as Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and Lord Goff succeeded him,^[2] Lord Goff remained in the role until his own retirement.

He served in the army and as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, practised as a barrister and Queen's Counsel, and was appointed to the High Court in 1975 and to the Court of Appeal in 1982. Lord Goff, co-author of Goff & Jones, The Law of Restitution, is the acknowledged father of English restitution law, and has served on many important cases in the House of Lords

He is the President of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, a patron of the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal,^[3] and was awarded the Grand Gross (First Class) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to British awareness of German law.

Important judgments

Lord Goff gave many important judgments, including his judgments in the following cases:

• BP Exploration Co (Libya) Ltd v Hunt [1979] 1 WLR 783
• Elanco Products Ltd v Mandops (Agrochemical Specialists) Ltd [1979] FSR 46
• Daulia Ltd v Four Millbank Nominees Ltd [1978] Ch 231
• Cambridge Water Co Ltd v Eastern Counties Leather plc [1994] 1 All ER 53 – explained the relationship between Private Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher
• Collins v Wilcock [1984] 3 All ER 374 – In his judgement in this case he defines both battery and assault which has become the accepted definitions.
• Spiliada v Cansulex Ltd [1987] AC 460
• Attorney-General v Observer Ltd. and Others. [1990] 1 AC 109
• R v R [1992] 1 AC 599
• Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1992] 4 All ER 331
• R v Gough [1993] 2 All ER 724
• Lord Napier v Kershaw [1993] AC 713
• The Pioneer Container [1994] 2 AC 324
• Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington LBC [1996] AC 669 (dissenting on the question of the award of compound interest) "No genetic engineering is required, only that the warm sun of judicial creativity should exercise its benign influence rather than remain hidden behind the dark clouds of legal history."
• Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd [1995] 2 AC 145
• Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd [1997] A.C. 655 – leading case on Private Nuisance
• White v Jones [1995] AC 207
• Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council [1999] 2 AC 349
• Re Pinochet [1998] UKHL
• Attorney General v Blake [2001] 1 AC 268

See also

• House of Lords
• Restitution

References