The Right Honourable Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning, OM, PC (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was a British barrister from Hampshire who became Master of the Rolls (the senior civil judge in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales) and was generally well liked, both within the legal profession and outside it. Lord Denning was a judge for 38 years, retiring at the age of 83 in 1982. The Right Honourable (abbreviated The Rt Hon. ... The Order of Merit is a British and Commonwealth Order bestowed by the Monarch. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The legal profession in England and Wales is divided between solicitors and barristers. ... Hampshire (abbr. ... The Master of the Rolls is the third most senior judge of England, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain traditionally being first and the Lord Chief Justice second. ... A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... Her Majestys Court of Appeal is the second most senior court in the English legal system (with only the judges of the House of Lords above it). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early History

Born in Whitchurch in Hampshire, Denning was the fourth of five sons of Charles Denning and his wife Clara. Denning's father was a draper. His mother had been a school teacher. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, after which he taught mathematics at Winchester College before returning to study law at Magdalen, where he was later made an honorary fellow. He trained at Lincoln's Inn, and was later a bencher of the Inn. He was called to the English bar in 1923, and was appointed a High Court judge and knighted in 1944. Only four years later he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal as well as a Privy Counsellor, and in 1957 he became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary with a life peerage as Baron Denning, of Whitchurch in the County of Southampton. He also served as Master of the Rolls from 1962 to 1982, later receiving the Order of Merit in 1997 in recognition of his distinguished career. He first married in 1932. His wife Mary died nine years later. He remarried in 1945 to Joan, who died in 1992. Location There are several places called Whitchurch in England. ... Hampshire (abbr. ... College name Magdalen College Named after Mary Magdalene Established 1458 Sister College Magdalene College President Professor David Clary FRS JCR President Iain Anstess Undergraduates 395 Graduates 230 Homepage Boatclub Magdalen College (pronounced ) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... Winchester College is a public school in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, in the south of England. ... Part of Lincolns Inn drawn by Thomas Shepherd c. ... In England and Wales, barristers (i. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Her Majestys High Court of Justice (known more simply as the High Court) is, together with the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England and Wales: see Courts of England and Wales. ... The dignity of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Her Majestys Court of Appeal is the second most senior court in the English legal system (with only the judges of the House of Lords above it). ... This article concerns the British Sovereigns Privy Council. ... Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are Life peers entrusted since the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 with carrying out the judicial functions of the House of Lords. ... The County of Southampton could be the City and County of Southampton in Hampshire, England Hampshire itself (previously also known as Southamptonshire) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Master of the Rolls is the third most senior judge of England, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain traditionally being first and the Lord Chief Justice second. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Order of Merit is a British and Commonwealth Order bestowed by the Monarch. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

He became well known for his judgments, which frequently pushed the law in novel directions. Even in his early career his decision in the now world renowned High Trees case: Central London Property Trust Ltd v. High Trees House Ltd [1947] K.B. 130 brought him into the forefront of judicial reasoning for his innovative approach to legal reasoning when he developed the principle of equitable estoppel as applied to contract law. Today, Denning is one of the few English jurists whose opinions are still cited and studied on both sides of the Atlantic. A judgment or judgement, in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following legal proceedings. ... Central London Property Trust Ltd. ... Case-based reasoning (CBR), broadly construed, is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past problems. ... Estoppel is a concept that prevents a party from acting in a certain way because it is not equitable to do so. ... A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made between parties. ...

Legal Career

Denning spent twenty years as the Master of the Rolls, presiding over the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, after five years as a Law Lord, shifting to the Court of Appeal at his request because he was happier with that post than a post in the more senior court. Court of Appeal judges sit in threes, and the Lords in fives (or more) so it was suggested that to get his way in the Court of Appeal Denning only had to persuade one other judge - in the House of Lords it was two. The other benefit of the Court of Appeal is that it hears more cases than the House of Lords and so has a greater effect on the law. During his 20 years as Master of the Rolls, he could choose his own cases and the judges who were to sit with him. So on most issues, he effectively had the last word. Not many cases went on to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court of law. Of his move down the legal hierarchy, Denning quipped, "To most lawyers on the bench, the House of Lords is like heaven. You want to get there someday - but not while there is any life in you". The last sitting UK judge not bound by a mandatory retirement age, he was forced to retire after remarks interpreted as racially insensitive though generally understood not to have indicated such feelings. The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, has a judicial function as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... Schematic of court system for England and Wales The United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system - England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. ... A mandatory retirement age is the age at which persons who hold certain jobs or offices are required by statute to step down, or retire. ...

His 1982 book "What Next in the Law" was his downfall. In it, he seemed to suggest some members of the black community were unsuitable to serve on juries, and that immigrant groups may have had different moral standards to native Englishmen. His remarks followed a trial over a riot in Bristol. Two jurors on the case threatened to sue him, although some scholars have pointed out that his attitudes were not far out of line with opinions in the right-wing press of the day, and may have been taken out of proportion somewhat. Nonetheless Lord Denning was forced to back down and avoided further conflict by apologising. He then announced he would be retiring. Later editions of the book assert Denning's commitment to representative juries and diversity.

Judgments

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning

Whatever the truth of it, Lord Denning became immensely popular for his judgments which often bent the law into interesting directions, and his unusual prose style in giving judgment. Image File history File links i would like to see some quotations by or about goebbels. ... Wikiquote logo Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

Examples of some opening lines, or opening paragraphs, from Denning's judgments can be found on wikiquote.

One of Denning's most influential decisions in torts was his well articulated opinion regarding relational economic loss in Spartan Steel & Alloys, Ltd. v. Martin & Co., [1972] 3 All E.R. 557 (C.A.). While his fellow judges, Lawton (concurring) & Edmund Davies (dissenting), based their rulings on stare decisis and general tort principles (respectively) Denning based his judgment on a thorough analysis of relevant policy factors.

Death and Legacy

Many of Denning's efforts to change the law were vindicated by the passage of time (and legislation) — in particular, his efforts to establish an abandoned wives' equity, small print exemption clauses, inequality of bargaining power, negligent mis-statement, liability of public authorities, and contractual interpretation. Legislation refers to the process of enacting statutory laws, or to the set of statutory laws in a state. ... This article is about concept of equity in Anglo-American jurisprudence. ... Small print refers to the practice of including necessary legal terms or phrases in small writing on commercial or contractual documents. ... A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made between parties. ...

Denning died a few months after celebrating his 100th birthday, which he was too frail to attend. At the event, Law Society President Michael Matthews said, "He was a towering figure in the law who made an enormous contribution to the law of this century, probably the major contribution". Eulogising Denning's death, a former Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham of St. Marylebone, said that Denning would go down in history as "one of the great and controversial judges of the 20th century". The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, KG, CH, PC (October 9, 1907–October 12, 2001), formerly 2nd Viscount Hailsham (1950–1963), was a British Conservative politician. ...

Lord Denning is most than simply a learned and gifted jurist. His judgments are sharp, pitty, and full of miscief. His gift for combining prose, with legal reasoning is unmatched. This is why loved by Common Law students, the world over. Even the Right Honourable Beverly McLaughlin, Chief Justice of Canada, acknowledges that Denning was always her favorite jurist, when she was in law school. Perhaps his most famous case was Miller v. Jackson (1977) Q.B. 966, 976, or as it is far better know, The Cricket Case:

In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch. In the village of Lintz in County Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last 70 years. They tend it well. The wicket area is well rolled and mown. The outfield is kept short . . . [y]et now after these 70 years a judge of the High Court has ordered that they must not play there anymore . . . [h]e has done it at the instance of a newcomer who is no lover of cricket.

See also

• List of cases involving Lord Denning