Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton
(28 August 1856 ? 18 August 1934) was an
English
barrister, judge, and legal writer.
[1]
Biography
[
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Thomas Edward Scrutton was born in
London
, the son of Thomas Urquhart Scrutton (1828?1896), a wealthy shipowner and head of the well-known shipping firm of Scrutton and Co.
[2]
He was educated at the
Mill Hill School
.
[2]
From there, he was a student at
Trinity College, Cambridge
, and at
University College London
.
[3]
At Cambridge he won the Whewell Scholarship and the
Yorke Prize
four times,
[2]
the first person to do so. He was also President of the
Cambridge Union
.
[2]
Despite his achievements, he did not obtain a fellowship at Trinity; his former pupil
Sir Frank MacKinnon
speculated that Scrutton did not attempt to gain fellowship, due to a feeling among some fellows that he lacked "originality".
[4]
He was
called to the bar
by the
Middle Temple
in 1882,
[2]
and developed a busy practice in
commercial
cases. He became a
King's Counsel
in 1901 and a
bencher
of the
Middle Temple
in 1908.
[2]
He was also professor of constitutional law and legal history at
University College, London
.
[2]
In the
1886 election
, he stood unsuccessfully as the
Liberal
candidate for
Limehouse
.
[4]
Judicial career
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Copyright
, Vanity Fair, 1911
He was a judge of the
King's Bench Division
(1910?16) and of the
Court of Appeal
(1916?34).
[
citation needed
]
He frequently sat in the Court of Appeal with
Bankes
[5]
and
Atkin
LJJ, a combination which has often been cited as one of the strongest benches ever to sit in commercial cases.
[6]
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 stern appearance and sweeping beard (he is said never to have shaved) intimidated most of those who appeared before him. His intolerance extended even to other judges, particularly the flamboyant and controversial Sir
Henry McCardie
whom he openly despised, and whom he attacked with increasing bitterness until their mutual antipathy resulted in a public quarrel. McCardie committed suicide soon afterwards, but the cause is generally thought to have been depression, unconnected to the quarrel.
His reputation for being difficult may explain his failure to achieve further promotion to the
House of Lords
since he was unquestionably well qualified on merit to be a
Law Lord
. In his later years, he is said to have mellowed considerably:
Henry Cecil
, the judge and humourist, recalled in his memoir
Just Within the Law
that Scrutton, in the only case Cecil argued in front of him, had been perfectly polite, although he could not resist one dry comment that a
barrister
who feels that he must repeat every point four times cannot have much opinion of the Court's intelligence.
James Atkin, Baron Atkin
, his former pupil, always spoke of Scrutton with affection and respect.
Works
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Scrutton wrote
The Contract of Affreightment as Expressed in Charter-parties and Bills of Lading
(1886), in which he drew on his knowledge of the family business as well as his legal training. Over a century later, it remains a standard text on the topic. Other legal works included one on
copyright
.
Personal life and family
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In private life he had a passion for
golf
. He was noted for religious scepticism: at his death, he left instructions that there should be "no empty Christian rituals" at his burial, although his wishes were either ignored or overlooked. His son Tom, in contrast to his father's scepticism, became a clergyman.
He married Mary Burton in 1884 and had three sons and one daughter.
[2]
The youngest son died in the First World War.
[4]
Mary Midgley
, the
philosopher
, was his granddaughter, and gave a valuable sketch of him in her 2005 autobiography
The Owl of Minerva
.
References
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External links
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