Sir Douglas William Falconer,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(20 September 1914 – 18 December 2007) was an English barrister and High Court judge. A patent law specialist, he sat in the Chancery Division from 1981 to 1989.

Biography

Douglas Falconer was born in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

in 1914, the son of William Falconer, an unemployed shipyard worker. He was educated at the local elementary school, before attending South Shields Grammar School on a scholarship. He then read Physics at King’s College, Durham, graduating with a BSc (Hons) in 1935. He became a teacher, first in either

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or Newcastle, then at Bromsgrove School. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Falconer was commissioned in the East Yorkshire Regiment, fought with the British Expeditionary Force, and was among the last to be evacuated at

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

, for which he was appointed a MBE (Military Division). He was demobilized with the rank of honorary

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. After the war, Falconer returned to Bromsgrove School but decided to read for the Bar. 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 ...

by the Middle Temple in 1950. He completed his pupillage with Guy Aldous (the father of William Aldous, later Falconer's own pupil and a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

) in the chambers of Kew Shelley at 6 Pump Court, where he remained for the remainder of his career at the bar. Building on his scientific background, he specialized in patent law. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1967 and a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 1973. Falconer was joint editor of ''Terrell on the Law of Patents (''11th edition, 1965; 12th edition, 1971). He was appointed to exercise the appellate jurisdiction of

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(later Department of Trade and Industry) under the Trade Marks Act from 1970 to 1981, and was a member of several governmental committees. Falconer succeeded Guy Aldous as head of chambers at 6 Pump Court in 1967, and remained head of chambers until his elevation to the bench. He was chairman of the Patent Bar Association from 1971 to 1980. In 1981, Falconer was appointed to the High Court of Justice, receiving the customary knighthood. Assigned to the Chancery Division, he was known for his careful approach to judicial work. Conservative in his approach to the law, he commented during a trial that "I am all for innovation, but it has never been done before." He retired in 1989.

Family

Falconer married Joan Beryl Argent in 1941; they had a son and a daughter. Lady Falconer died in 1989. He married secondly Constance Drew in 1997.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falconer, Douglas 1914 births 2007 deaths People from South Shields Alumni of King's College, Newcastle Schoolteachers from Worcestershire East Yorkshire Regiment officers Knights Bachelor Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Middle Temple English King's Counsel Patent law scholars Chancery Division judges British Army personnel of World War II