Henry Cecil Leon (19 September 1902 – 23 May 1976), who wrote under the pen-names Henry Cecil and Clifford Maxwell, was a judge and a writer of fiction about the British legal system. He was born near London in 1902 and 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 1923. Later in 1949, he was appointed a county court judge, a position he held until 1967. He used these experiences as inspiration for his work. His books typically feature educated and genteel fraudsters and blackmailers who lay ludicrously ingenious plots exploiting loopholes in the legal system. There are several recurring characters, such as the drunken solicitor Mr Tewkesbury and the convoluted and exasperating witness Colonel Brain. He writes well about the judicial process, usually through the eyes of a young barrister but sometimes from the viewpoint of the judge; ''

Friends at Court ''Friends at Court'' is a 1956 comedy novel by the British writer Henry Cecil. It was published in the United States the following year by Harper Publications.Reilly p.278 It is a sequel to his bestseller '' Brothers in Law''. Roger Thursby the ...

'' contains a memorable snub from a county court judge to a barrister who is trying to patronise him. Cecil did not believe that judges should be too remote from the public: in ''

Sober as a Judge ''Sober as a Judge'' is a 1958 comedy novel by the British writer Henry Cecil Sir Henry Richard Amherst Cecil (11 January 1943 – 11 June 2013) was a British flat racing horse trainer. Cecil was very successful, becoming Champion Trainer ...

'', a High Court judge, in a case where the ingredients of a

martini Martini may refer to: * Martini (cocktail) * Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth * Martini (surname), an Italian surname * Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company * Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars * M ...

are of some importance, states drily that he will ignore the convention by which he should inquire "what is a martini?" and instead gives the recipe for the cocktail himself. His 1955 novel '' Brothers in Law'' was made into a film in 1957 and, later, a television and radio series starring

Richard Briers Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...

. While at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

worked on adapting '' No Bail for the Judge'' for the screen several times between 1954 and 1960, and hoped to co-star

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...

, and

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

, but the film was never produced. As Henry Cecil, he appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on 8 July 1972. The programme was not archived by the BBC, but an unofficial tape copy was among a collection of over 90 episodes discovered by an amateur researcher and placed online in 2022. He also reviewed the Rowland case in the Celebrated Trials series published by

David & Charles David & Charles Ltd is an English publishing company. It is the owner of the David & Charles imprint, which specialises in craft and lifestyle publishing. David and Charles Ltd acts as distributor for all David and Charles Ltd books and cont ...

in 1975. The 1946 trial of Walter Rowland was for the

murder of Olive Balchin Olive Balchin (c. 1906 – 20 October 1946) was a British murder victim whose body was found near a bomb site in Manchester, England. The murder weapon, a bloodstained hammer, was found nearby. After a lengthy investigation, police were given a de ...

, who had been found battered to death on a bomb site on

Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile ...

, Manchester. A hammer had been found near the body, and the police identified Rowland with three witnesses. He protested his innocence from the dock and afterwards. He was found guilty and hanged at

Strangeways Prison HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is ...

in 1947. Another man confessed to the killing, but his evidence was ignored when the original judgment was reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Cecil concludes in his book that Rowland was indeed guilty.

Works

Novels

*''

The Painswick Line ''The Painswick Line'' is a 1951 comedy crime novel by the British writer Henry Cecil. It was his debut novel and introduced the character of the drunken solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the l ...

'' (1951) *'' No Bail for the Judge'' (1952) *''Ways and Means'' (1952) *''

Natural Causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...

'' (1953) *''

According to the Evidence ''According to the Evidence'' is a 1954 comedy crime novel by the British writer Henry Cecil. An ex-army officer and a former criminal join forces to make sure that the man who killed a murderer is acquitted of murder himself. In 1967, it was ad ...

'' (1954) *'' Brothers in Law'' (1955) *''

'' (1956) *''Much in Evidence'' (1957) (US title: ''The Long Arm'') *''

'' (1958) *''

Settled Out of Court In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...

'' (1959) *''I Married the Girl'' (1960, as Clifford Maxwell) *''

Alibi for a Judge ''Alibi for a Judge'' is a 1960 comedy crime novel by the British writer Henry Cecil. After sentencing a man to serve ten years in prison, a worrisome judge becomes concerned that the alibi provided by his wife may in fact be true. In 1965 it wa ...

'' (1960) *''

Daughters in Law ''Daughters in Law'' is a 1961 comedy novel by the British writer Henry Cecil Leon. As with his other works it combines an examination of issues in the legal profession with a general Wodehousian humour. Synopsis A judge has two attractive twin ...

'' (1961) *''Unlawful Occasions'' (1962) *''Independent Witness'' (1963) *''Fathers in Law'' (1965) (US title: ''A Child Divided'') *''The Asking Price'' (1966) *'' A Woman Named Anne'' (1967) *''No Fear or Favour'' (1968) (US title: ''The Blackmailers'') *''Tell You What I'll Do'' (1969) *''The Buttercup Spell'' (1971) *''The Wanted Man'' (1972) *''Truth With Her Boots On'' (1974) *''Cross Purposes'' (1976) *''Hunt the Slipper'' (1977)

Short story collections

*''Full Circle'' (1948) *''Portrait of a Judge'' (1964) *''Brief Tales from the Bench'' (1968)

Non-fiction

*''Brief to Counsel'' (1958) *''Not Such an Ass'' (1961) *''Tipping the Scales'' (1964) *''Know About English Law'' (1965) *''A Matter of Speculation: the Case of Lord Cochrane'' (1965) *''The English Judge'' (1970) *''Just Within the Law'' (1975) (autobiography)

References

External links