Donald James Nicholls, Baron Nicholls of Birkenhead, (25 January 1933 – 25 September 2019) was a British barrister who became a

Law Lord Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House o ...

(Lord of Appeal in Ordinary).

Biography

Nicholls was educated at

Birkenhead School Birkenhead School is an independent, academically-selective, co-educational day school located in Oxton, Wirral, in North West England. The school offers educational opportunities for girls and boys from three months to eighteen years of ag ...

, before reading Law at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. He was called to the bar in 1958 as a member of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, becoming a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1974. He was made a High Court judge on 30 September 1983, receiving 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 ...

. On 10 February 1986, he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and subsequently appointed to the Privy Council. He became

Vice-Chancellor of the Supreme Court The Chancellor of the High Court is the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. This judge and the other two heads of divisions (Family and Queens Bench) sit by virtue of their offices often, as and when ...

on 1 October 1991. He was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary on 3 October 1994 and consequently created a life peer as Baron Nicholls of Birkenhead, of Stoke d'Abernon in the County of Surrey. In 1998, Nicholls and the other Law Lords came to the international fore in deciding whether

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

could be extradited to Spain. Three lords, including Nicholls, rejected the argument that Pinochet was immune from arrest and prosecution for his acts as Head of State in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. They said the State Immunity Act 1978 flouted a battery of international legislation on human rights abuses to which Britain is a signatory, and secondly, it would have meant endorsing the arguments of Pinochet's legal team that British law would have protected even

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Nicholls said, He became Second Senior Law Lord on 1 October 2002, and retired in 2007, succeeded by

Lord Hoffmann Leonard Hubert "Lennie" Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (born 8 May 1934) is a retired senior South African–British judge. He served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1995 to 2009. Well known for his lively decisions and willingness to break ...

. From 1998 to 2004, he was a Non-Permanent Judge of the

Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA or CFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing the Judicial Committee of t ...

. He retired from the membership of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

on 3 April 2017. He died on 25 September 2019 at the age of 86.

Judgments

*'' Harries v The Church Commissioners for England''

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...

1 WLR 1241 *'' Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd v Tan''

995 Year 995 ( CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gain ...

2 AC 378 *''

Attorney General v Blake is a leading English contract law case on damages for breach of contract. It established that in some circumstances, where ordinary remedies are inadequate, restitutionary damages may be awarded. Facts George Blake was a member of the Secre ...

001 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to: *1 (number), a number, a numeral *001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent *001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986) *AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valkyrie ...

1 AC 268 *''

White v White ''White v White'' is an English family law decision by the House of Lords, and a landmark case in redistribution of finances as well as property on divorce. This case involved a couple with assets exceeding £4.5m which was deemed more than eit ...

1 AC 596 *''

Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd ''Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd'' was a House of Lords case in English defamation law concerning qualified privilege for publication of defamatory statements in the public interest. The case provided the Reynolds defence, which could be rais ...

2 AC 127
''Royal_Bank_of_Scotland_plc_v_Etridge''_[2001
/nowiki>_UKHL_44.html" ;"title="001">''Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge'' [2001
/nowiki> UKHL 44">001">''Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge'' [2001
/nowiki> UKHL 44*''Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd'' [2002] UKHL 22 *''Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson''

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

UKHL 62 *''

Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council ''Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council'' 003UKHL 47is a 2003 court case in England from the House of Lords regarding the torts of negligence and occupiers' liability (the latter regarding the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984). It was a landmark ...

UKHL 47 *'' Wilson v First County Trust Ltd''

UKHL 40 *
Bellinger_v_Bellinger_[2003
/nowiki>_UKHL_21.html" ;"title="003">Bellinger v Bellinger [2003
/nowiki> UKHL 21">003">Bellinger v Bellinger [2003
/nowiki> UKHL 21' *''Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd''

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * Lauda Ai ...

UKHL 22 *''A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department''

UKHL 56 *''

Archibald v Fife Council ''Archibald v Fife Council'' 004UKHL 32is a UK labour law case, concerning the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Facts Mrs Archibald was employed as a road sweeper for Fife Council. She had surgery in 1999. Sadly there were complications. She ...

UKHL 32 *'' Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza''

2 AC 557 *'' Cream Holdings Ltd v Banerjee and the Liverpool Post and Echo Ltd''

UKHL 44 *'' National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Ltd''

005 ''005'' is a 1981 arcade game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings". It is one of the first examples of a ...

UKHL 41 *''

Gregg v Scott ''Gregg v Scott'' 005UKHL 2is an English tort law case, on the issue of loss of a chance, in causation. It affirms the principle of '' Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority'', on a narrow margin of 3 to 2. Lord Nicholls' dissent is of ...

UKHL 2 *'' Jackson v Royal Bank of Scotland''

UKHL 3 *''

Jackson v Attorney General ''R (Jackson) v Attorney General'' House of Lords case noted for containing obiter comments by the Judiciary acting in their official capacity suggesting that there may be limits to parliamentary sovereignty, the orthodox position being that it ...

UKHL 56 *'' R (Begum) v Governors of Denbigh High School''

006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film '' GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Ale ...

UKHL 15 *'' R v Saik''

UKHL 18 *'' OBG Ltd v Allan'' 007UKHL 21 *'' Palk v Mortgage Services Funding plc''

993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...

Ch 330

Publications

Lord Nicholls Donald James Nicholls, Baron Nicholls of Birkenhead, (25 January 1933 – 25 September 2019) was a British barrister who became a Law Lord (Lord of Appeal in Ordinary). Biography Nicholls was educated at Birkenhead School, before readi ...

, 'Trustees and their broader community: where duty, morality and ethics converge’ (1995) 9(3) Trusts Law International 71

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls Of Birkenhead, Donald James, Baron 1933 births 2019 deaths People educated at Birkenhead School English barristers 20th-century English judges Knights Bachelor Nicholls of Birkenhead Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Liverpool Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Chancery Division judges Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 21st-century English judges

Biography

Judgments

Publications

Arms

See also

References