The Lord Donaldson of Lymington | |
|---|---|
 Donaldson in 1966 | |
| Master of the Rolls | |
| In office 30 July 1982 – 1 October 1992 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | The Lord Denning |
| Succeeded by | Sir Thomas Bingham |
| Lord Justice of Appeal | |
| In office 1979–1982 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Francis Donaldson (1920-10-06)6 October 1920 London, England |
| Died | 31 August 2005(2005-08-31) (aged 84) Lymington, Hampshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Charterhouse School |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | QC, jurist |
John Francis Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington,PC (6 October 1920 – 31 August 2005) was a British barrister and judge who served asMaster of the Rolls for ten years, from 1982 to 1992. He was the first (and only) President of the short-livedNational Industrial Relations Court from 1971 to 1974.
John Francis Donaldson was born inMarylebone, London, on 6 October 1920, to Malcolm (1884–1973) and Evelyn (née Gilroy) Donaldson.[1] His father was aHarley Street-basedgynaecologist.[1]
Donaldson attended firstCharterhouse and thenTrinity College,Cambridge. He served as chairman of the Federation of University Conservative and Unionist Associations, and harboured ambitions of representing theConservative Party as aMember of Parliament . He was an Independent Ratepayers Councillor for theCounty Borough of Croydon from 1949 to 1953.[2]
After graduating with alower second class degree in 1941, he joined thewar effort as acommissioned officer in theRoyal Signals.[1] He then served with the Guards Armoured Divisional Signals, both domestically and in North-West Europe, until the end of the war in 1945. He served in the military government ofSchleswig-Holstein, and wasdemobbed as alieutenant-colonel aged 25.[2]
He married Dorothy Mary Warwick (later known asDame Mary Donaldson), in 1945, having met her atMiddlesex Hospital where she was working as a nurse. She later became the first woman to be a Member of theCity of LondonCourt of Common Council, the first femaleAlderman, the first femaleSheriff and, finally, in 1983, the first femaleLord Mayor of London. Together, they had two daughters and a son; his wife predeceased him in October 2003.[3][4]
Donaldson was called to theBar in 1946 as a Harmsworth Scholar at theMiddle Temple.[1] He joined the chambers ofSir Henry Willink, QC at 3 Essex Court and built a successfultort andcommercial practice. He was made aQueen's Counsel in 1961, and became aHigh Court judge when he was appointed to theQueen's Bench Division andknighted in 1966 at the age of 45.[1] He remained the youngest High Court judge for a number of years.
He became the first (and last) President of the National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC, also known as the Industrial Relations Tribunal) from its formation byTed Heath's Conservative government in 1971 under theIndustrial Relations Act 1971 until it was abolished in 1974. The trades unions, pointing to his Tory inclinations in his youth, nicknamed him "Black Jack", and 181Members of Parliament (MPs) signed aHouse of Commons motion calling for his dismissal.
Two months afterMargaret Thatcher was elected in 1979, he became aLord Justice of Appeal and was sworn of thePrivy Council.[1] He replacedLord Denning as Master of the Rolls in 1982, becoming the presiding officer of the civil division of theCourt of Appeal, where he pushed forward modernisation efforts, including the introduction of skeleton arguments in civil appeals,[clarification needed] judgments being "handed down" rather than read, and enhanced case management.[1]
Donaldson decided inO'Kelly v. Trusthouse Forte plc [1983] ICR 728, Donaldson's early reforms would later be overtaken by theCivil Procedure Rules introduced by a later Master of the Rolls,Lord Woolf. On 15 February 1988 he was elevated to theHouse of Lords as alife peer asBaron Donaldson of Lymington,ofLymington in theCounty of Hampshire.[5]
In his various roles, Donaldson was involved in many high-profile cases from the 1970s onwards. He presided over the trials of theGuildford Four in 1975 and theMaguire Seven in 1976, and was later criticised inSir John May's interim report of his inquiry into themiscarriages of justice.[1] The inquiry by Sir John May into the injustice suffered by the Maguires said that Mr Justice Donaldson, as he was then, had failed to appreciate that the sudden emergence of new evidence on the last day of the trial removed the whole basis of the prosecution case. He also allowed inadmissible evidence to be presented to the jury, the report added.[6] At the trials, he achieved notoriety for declaring in his closing remarks that he wished the men had been indicted forhigh treason, which still carried the death penalty, rather than for murder, which by then no longer carried the death penalty.[7] These remarks bore an uncanny resemblance to the words of another leading judge of the era,Sir Nigel Bridge, who commented ina similar IRA-based miscarriage of justice, the Birmingham Six trial, that he wished that he could still hang murderers.
Donaldson refused to prevent newspapers from publishing theSpycatcher memoir ofPeter Wright in 1988, against government policy; and he ruled in 1991 that the thenHome Secretary,Kenneth Baker was incontempt of court over an extradition case, in which a man was deported to Zaire while the case was still pending, contrary to a court order.
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After retiring as a judge in 1992, he wrote reports regarding two maritime accidents involving the grounding of oil tankers and subsequent spills of crude oil: the grounding of theMV Braer off theShetland Islands in January 1993, in which 85,000tonnes of oil escaped; and the grounding of theSea Empress at the entrance toMilford Haven in February 1996, and subsequent escape of more than 70,000 tonnes of oil off thePembrokeshire coast.[1]
In the 2000-01 session of Parliament, he presented aprivate member's bill in theHouse of Lords (the Parliament Acts (Amendment) Bill), which would have had the effect of confirming the legitimacy of theParliament Act 1949 to address concerns raised by legal academics as to whether the use of the Act was valid.[8] The bill was not passed, and Donaldson supported the legal action by theCountryside Alliance to overturn theHunting Act 2004, which was passed under the provisions of theParliament Acts 1911 and 1949.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Donaldson died from a heart attack at his home inLymington on 31 August 2005.[1][2][9]
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| Preceded by | Master of the Rolls 1982–1992 | Succeeded by |
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