Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley (17 February 1930 – 7 April 2009) was a British judge and Advocate General of the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

. He particularly specialised in

European law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

. He was a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 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 of ...

Early life

Slynn was born on 17 February 1930 to John and Edith Slynn and educated at Sandbach School,

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He was called to the bar at

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 ...

in 1956 before moving to One Hare Court alongside Henry Fisher, Patrick Neill, Roger Parker, and Richard Southwell, becoming a bencher in 1970 and Treasurer in 1988. He served as Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Labour between 1967 and 1968. He was the First Junior Treasury Counsel (Common Law), or "Treasury Devil", from 1968 to 1974.

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning, (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999), was an English barrister and judge. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he w ...

said about Slynn in his capacity as such: "He was outstanding. The best I have ever known. He will go far." His successful application to take silk in 1974 coincided with his becoming the first Leading Counsel to the Treasury.

Marriage

He married Odile Marie Henriette Boutin in 1962.

Judicial career

He was appointed Recorder of Hereford in 1971 and as a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

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 High Court in 1976, receiving the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

, serving additionally as President of the

Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions ...

from 1978. In 1981, he left both these positions to become an Advocate General at the

(ECJ), and was appointed a Judge in 1988, a position he held until 1992. He was appointed a

on 11 March 1992, becoming a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Slynn of Hadley, of

Eggington Egginton – or Eggington as it is now known – is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about three miles east of Leighton Buzzard. Apart from the village itself, the parish also inclu ...

in the County of Bedfordshire, and being sworn of the Privy Council. He was a dissenter in the case '' R v. Brown'', which upheld the legality of the criminal convictions resulting from

Operation Spanner Operation Spanner was a police investigation into same-sex male sadomasochism across the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. The investigation, led by the Obscene Publications Squad of the Metropolitan Police, began in 1987 and ran for three year ...

. As a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, he served as Chairman of the House of Lords Select Sub-Committee on European Law and Institutions (1992–95), and as a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Public Service (1996–98) and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corruption Bill (2003). He retired as a Law Lord in 2002. He was appointed President of the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands in 2001 and was life President of the Lord Slynn of Hadley European Law Foundation and President of the Civil Mediation Council. From 1992-1996 he was President of The Academy of Experts. Ster Orde van het Britse Rijk

Legal education

Slynn was a supporter of legal education. He wrote a foreword to the book, ''How to Moot: a Student Guide to Mooting'' and sat as a judge in the Central and East European Moot Court. He was Honorary President of the Durham Mooting Society and an honorary member of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He was a patron of Staffordshire University's Law School.

Charitable work

Slynn was Patron of the UK wing of the Child in Need Institute (CINI) (CINI UK), founded by his wife Odile Slynn to help poor mothers and children in India. He was a Trustee of The Loomba Trust, which cares for widows around the world, and Patron of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Institute for Indian art and culture. Slynn led a campaign to remove People's Mujahedin of Iran from the British and EU's blacklists.

Honours & Arms

Slynn received honorary degrees from numerous institutions, and was

Visitor A visitor, in English and Welsh law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution, often a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty, who can interve ...

of Mansfield College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

from 1995–2002 and of the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

from 1995–2000. He was

Chief Steward A chief steward is the senior crew member working in the steward's department of a ship. Since there is no purser on most ships in the United States Merchant Marine, the steward is the senior person in the department, whence its name. In the Br ...

of Hereford between 1978–2008 and received the Freedom of the City in 1996, and was President of the Bentham Club in 1992 and of the Holdsworth Club in 1993. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1976. He was made a Knight of the Order of St John in 1998, having received the Order of St John in 1992, and received the Grande Croix de l'Ordre de Mérite (Luxembourg) in 1998; appointed a Knight Cross, Order of Merit (Poland) in 1999; Grand Cross, Order of Merit (Malta) in 2001; Officer's Cross, Order of Merit (Hungary) in 2002; and the Cross of Solomon Islands in 2007. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his services to the

International Law Association The International Law Association (ILA) is a non-profit organisation based in Great Britain that — according to its constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international ...

which he served as Chairman of the Executive Committee. In 2000 he was presented with a 2-volume Liber Amicorum: Vol I, entitled ''Judicial Review in European Union Law'', was edited by Professor David O'Keeffe and Antonio Bavasso; Vol 2, entitled ''Judicial Review in International Perspective'', was edited by Mads Andenas and Duncan Fairgrieve; both volumes were published by Kluwer Law International ( (set)).

Sources

''Who's Who 2009''