Sir Anthony James Denys McCowan (12 January 1928 – 3 July 2003) was a British barrister and judge of the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

and

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

best known for trying the case of

Clive Ponting Clive Sheridan Ponting (13 April 1946 – 28 July 2020)Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Ponting Affair", Cecil Woolf, London, 1985, p. 14. was a senior British civil servant and historian. He was best known for leaking documents about the sinkin ...

in 1985. After studying at

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orpha ...

he won a scholarship to study history at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, where he switched to law, and he was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1951. After gaining a strong practice in criminal, property and personal injury law he was made a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1972, and was appointed a judge of the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

of the

in 1981. In 1989 he became a judge of the

, but only sat for eight years until ill health forced him to retire in 1997. He died on 3 July 2003.

Early life, education and work as a barrister

McCowan was born on 12 January 1928 in

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

, the son of a magistrate. He won a scholarship to study at

, starting there in 1940. At Epsom, he won a scholarship to study history at

, before switching to law. In 1951 he helped found the

Bow Group The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with i ...

and was

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

as an Atkin Scholar. After a

pupillage A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Hong Kong, is the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers. Pupillage is similar to an apprenticeship, during which bar ...

with Stanley Rees at 1 Crown Office Row, McCowan specialised in criminal, property and personal injury law, practising in London and on the South East Circuit, and became noted for his skill at

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...

. In 1971, he became a

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

, He became a

(QC) in 1972, and leader of the South Eastern Circuit in 1978, having been appointed Deputy Chairman of the East Sussex Quarter Sessions in 1969.McCowan (2005) p. 7

Judge

On 2 June 1981 he was appointed to the

of the

, and received the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

the following month. In 1982 he became a member of the

Parole Board for England and Wales The Parole Board for England and Wales () was established in 1968 under the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It became an independent executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) on 1 July 1996 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The ...

, and the same year joined the

Crown Court Rule Committee A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. In 1985 he presided over the case of

, a British civil servant who had been charged with violating section 2 of the

Official Secrets Act 1911 The Official Secrets Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo 5 c 28) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889. The Act was introduced in response to public alarm at reports of wide-scale espionage, some of them ...

after leaking documents about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano. Ponting's defence (that his actions were in the interests of the state, as they prevented Parliament from being misled) was rejected by McCowan, who summed up in favour of the prosecution, "the public interest is what the government of the day says it is" – nevertheless, the jury found Ponting not guilty. In 1986 McCowan became Presiding Judge of the

South Eastern Circuit The Circuit Court ( ga, An Chúirt Chuarda) of Ireland is an intermediate level court of local and limited jurisdiction which hears both civil and criminal matters. On the criminal side the Circuit Court hears criminal matters tried on indictmen ...

. On 3 October 1989 McCowan was appointed to the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Courts of England and Wales#Senior Courts of England and Wales, Senior Courts of England and Wal ...

, and made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the British monarchy, sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises Politics of the United King ...

. As an Appeals judge he ordered an inquest into the death of

Roberto Calvi Roberto Calvi (13 April 1920 – 17 June 1982) was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" () by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in on ...

, nicknamed God's Banker, and in 1991 was part of the panel that heard the appeal of the

Maguire Seven Maguire ( , also spelled MacGuire or McGuire) is an Irish surname from the Gaelic , which is "son of Odhar" meaning "dun", "dark one". According to legend, this relates to the eleventh descendant of Colla da Chrich, great-grandson of Cormac mac ...

. The same year he was made Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales, a position he held until ill-health forced him to resign in 1995. He resigned from the Bench two years later, and died on 3 July 2003.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCowan, Anthony 20th-century English judges English barristers Knights Bachelor Members of Gray's Inn Queen's Bench Division judges 1928 births 2003 deaths Lords Justices of Appeal Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford 20th-century King's Counsel People educated at Epsom College Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom