David John Feldman () is a British legal academic, author and former judge. He is
Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
The Rouse Ball Professorship of English Law is a senior professorship in English law at the University of Cambridge, established in 1927 by a bequest from the mathematician W. W. Rouse Ball. In establishing the office, Rouse Ball expre ...
at the
University of Cambridge,
and served as an international judge of the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Уставни суд Босне и Херцеговине) is the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, It ...
under the
Dayton Agreement from 2002 to 2010.
He is known for having shaped the development of civil liberties and human rights law in the United Kingdom.
Feldman is an
Emeritus Fellow of
Downing College, Cambridge, an Honorary Bencher at
Lincoln's Inn and an Academic Associate at
39 Essex Chambers
39 Essex Chambers is a long established barristers' chambers based in London with over 150 barristers, including 58 King's Counsel. The chambers offers expertise in commercial, common, construction, costs, environmental and planning, public and r ...
. He has served as
Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of the
Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
The Faculty of Law, Cambridge is the law school of the University of Cambridge.
The study of law at the University of Cambridge began in the thirteenth century. The faculty sits the oldest law professorship in the English-speaking world, the ...
and the
Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science
The Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science at the University of Cambridge was created in 2011 out of a merger of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies. ...
, and as President of the
Society of Legal Scholars
The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) is the learned society for those who teach law in a university or similar institution or who are otherwise engaged in legal scholarship. As of the beginning of 2016 the Society had over 3,000 members consisting ...
.
Early life and education
Feldman was born in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
,
the grandson of immigrants from Eastern Europe,
and received his early education at
Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College
Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College, usually abbreviated to BHASVIC (pronounced "Baz-vic"), is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove, England for 16- to 19-year-old students. The college is in the Prestonville area of the city. It is ...
.
Upon graduating, he applied unsuccessfully to read Law and History at the
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
.
Having been advised that confining his application to one subject would improve his chances, he applied the following year to read Law.
His choice of law over history was influenced by his childhood admiration of
Marshall Hall and
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
.
He was accepted to
Exeter College, Oxford
(Let Exeter Flourish)
, old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall''
, named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter
, established =
, sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, rector = Sir Richard Trainor
...
to read law and graduated in 1976 with a
first-class honours B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
Jurisprudence.
He subsequently also received his first-class honours
B.C.L.
Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Camb ...
and
D.C.L. from
Exeter College, Oxford
(Let Exeter Flourish)
, old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall''
, named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter
, established =
, sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, rector = Sir Richard Trainor
...
.
During his time at Oxford, he studied under
Stephen Cretney
Stephen Michael Cretney, FBA, Hon. QC (1936–2019) was a British legal scholar. He was Professor of Law at the University of Bristol from 1984 to 1993 and then a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, until 2001.
Life
Born on 25 February 1936, ...
, a future Dean of the Faculty of Law of the
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
.
Career
Academic career
In 1976, Cretney advised Feldman of an available lectureship in law at the University of Bristol.
Feldman chose to accept the lectureship over completing the
Bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar ( ...
course,
and worked as Lecturer in Law at the
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
until 1989,
when he was appointed
Reader
A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to:
Computing and technology
* Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader
* Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application
* A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...
in Law.
That year, he was also Visiting Fellow at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
.
In 1992, he was appointed Barber Professor of Jurisprudence at the
University of Birmingham,
and he served concurrently as
Dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles ...
of the Faculty of Law from 1997 to 2000.
In 2000, he was appointed Professor of Law,
which he performed alongside his responsibilities as Legal Adviser to Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights until 2004.
He also took up his judicial appointment at the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Уставни суд Босне и Херцеговине) is the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, It ...
in this period.
In 2004, he was appointed
Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
The Rouse Ball Professorship of English Law is a senior professorship in English law at the University of Cambridge, established in 1927 by a bequest from the mathematician W. W. Rouse Ball. In establishing the office, Rouse Ball expre ...
at the
University of Cambridge,
and a
Fellow of
Downing College, Cambridge.
From 2006 to 2009, he was Chairman of the Faculty Board of Law.
Thereon, he took on a number of senior honorary visiting fellowships, including the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship at the
University of Melbourne and the Sir John C. Smith Senior Visiting Scholarship at the
University of Nottingham.
From 2013 to 2016, he was Chairman of the
.
He was President of the
Society of Legal Scholars
The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) is the learned society for those who teach law in a university or similar institution or who are otherwise engaged in legal scholarship. As of the beginning of 2016 the Society had over 3,000 members consisting ...
from 2010 to 2011,
and the outgoing Director of the Centre for Public Law at the
University of Cambridge.
Feldman retired as
Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
The Rouse Ball Professorship of English Law is a senior professorship in English law at the University of Cambridge, established in 1927 by a bequest from the mathematician W. W. Rouse Ball. In establishing the office, Rouse Ball expre ...
on 30 September 2018, and was succeeded by
Louise Gullifer.
Parliamentary career
From 2000 to 2004, he was Legal Adviser to the
Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights of the
Westminster Parliament.
He was Specialist Adviser to the
Joint Select Committee on the Detention of Terrorist Suspects (Temporary Extension) Bills in 2011.
Judicial career
In 2002, the President of the
European Court of Human Rights appointed Feldman a judge on the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Уставни суд Босне и Херцеговине) is the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, It ...
, the second-highest judicial authority in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
.
In a speech,
David Clarke noted that "Professor David Feldman...has the distinction of achieving high judicial office without ever having to venture into the practice of the law beforehand.
Although the post was expected to last five years, he served as judge until 2010.
He was Vice-President of the court from 2006 to 2009. His work as a judge influenced his perspectives on constitutions, the rule of law, and the role and authority of courts.
Academic interests
Feldman's academic and teaching interests cover administrative law, civil liberties, constitutional law (particularly in an international and comparative perspective) and human rights. He is credited with writing or editing textbooks on public law, law in politics, civil liberties and human rights, corporate and commercial law, and criminal investigation.
Awards and recognitions
Feldman was made an Honorary Bencher at
Lincoln's Inn in 2003,
and elected to the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 2006. He was appointed
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 ...
''
honoris causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
'' in 2008, "for his work in public law fields, particularly civil liberties and human rights".
He was also awarded the
Doctor of Laws ''honoris causa'' by the
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
in 2013.
Bibliography
* ''English Public Law'' (ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2004)
* ''Civil Liberties and Human Rights in England and Wales 2nd ed'' (Oxford University Press, 2002)
* ''Criminal Confiscation Orders — The New Law'' (Butterworths, 1988)
* ''The Law Relating to Entry, Search and Seizure'' (Butterworths, 1986)
References
External links
Cambridge Faculty of Law biography39 Essex Chambers biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feldman, David
Academics of the University of Birmingham
Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
British judges on the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
English legal scholars
Legal scholars of the University of Cambridge
Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge
Judges of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Living people
People educated at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School
Rouse Ball Professors of English Law
Year of birth missing (living people)
Fellows of the British Academy