James Reid, Baron Reid
James Scott Cumberland Reid, Baron Reid CH PC QC FRSE (30 July 1890, Drem, East Lothian – 29 March 1975) was a Scottish Unionist politician and judge. His reputation is as one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century.[1]
Educated at Edinburgh Academy and Jesus College, Cambridge, he was admitted as an advocate in 1914. He was commissioned into the 8th Royal Scots in World War I and was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps in 1916, reaching the rank of Major. He resigned his commission in 1921. He was appointed a King's Counsel in 1932.
He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling and Falkirk from October 1931 until his defeat in November 1935, and for Glasgow Hillhead from June 1937 until September 1948.
He served as Solicitor General for Scotland from June 1936[2] until June 1941, and as Lord Advocate from June 1941[3] until July 1945, and was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1941. From 1945 to 1948 he was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1948 he was appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and received a Law Life Peerage as Baron Reid, of Drem in East Lothian. He sat as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until 1975. He was one of very few men to be appointed a Law Lord straight from the Bar, without any intervening judicial experience.
Reid was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1967.
Cases decided
- Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw [1956] AC 613, [1956] 2 WLR 707, [1956] 1 All ER 615
- Beswick v Beswick [1968] AC 58
- Dorset Yacht Co Ltd v Home Office [1970] AC 1004
- Knuller v. DPP [4] [1973] A.C. 435
- McGhee v National Coal Board [1972] 3 All ER 1008
- Norwich Pharmacal Co. v Customs and Excise Commissioners [1974] AC 133
- Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd [1961] 1 All ER 404
- Rookes v. Barnard [1964] AC 1129
- Scruttons Ltd v Midland Silicones Ltd [1962] AC 446
- Shaw v DPP [1962] AC 220
Selected judgments
In Shaw v DPP, (1961) UKHL 1 rendered on 4 May 1961, Reid said,
“ | I shall not examine the authorities because I think that they establish that it is an indictable offence to say or do or exhibit anything in public which outrages public decency, whether or not it also tends to corrupt and deprave those who see or hear it. In my view it is open to a jury to hold that a public invitation to indulge in sexual perversion does so outrage public decency as to be a punishable offence. If the jury in this case had been properly directed they might well have found the accused guilty for this reason. And the offence would be the same whether the invitation was made by an individual or by several people acting in concert. But it appears to me to be impossible to say the same with regard to ordinary prostitution. The common law has never treated the appearance of a prostitute in public as an indictable offence however obvious her purpose might be, and an Act of Parliament has been found necessary to stop the nuisance of prostitutes parading in the public street. | ” |
References
- ↑ Smith, T. B. (2004). "Reid, James Scott Cumberland". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.
- ↑ "No. 34301". The London Gazette. 3 July 1936. p. 4225.
- ↑ "No. 15820". The Edinburgh Gazette. 13 June 1941. p. 305.
- ↑ Knuller (Publishing, Printing and Promotions) Ltd. v. DPP [1973] A.C. 435 at 456, 56 Cr.App.R. 633 at 637
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by James Reid
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Hugh Murnin |
Member of Parliament for Stirling and Falkirk 1931–1935 |
Succeeded by Joseph Westwood |
Preceded by Sir Robert Stevenson Horne |
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead 1937–1948 |
Succeeded by Tam Galbraith |
Legal offices | ||
Preceded by Albert Russell |
Solicitor General for Scotland 1936–1941 |
Succeeded by Sir David King Murray |
Preceded by Thomas Mackay Cooper |
Lord Advocate 1941–1945 |
Succeeded by George Reid Thomson |