John Stewart Hobhouse, Baron Hobhouse of Woodborough, PC (31 January 1932 – 15 March 2004) was a British judge and

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 ...

. Hobhouse was born in

Mossley Hill Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 a ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, the son of the shipowner Sir John Richard Hobhouse, and grandson of Henry Hobhouse, the MP. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

. After working abroad in Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on a sheep farm, Hobhouse returned to Christ Church, Oxford in 1951, where he read Jurisprudence. He was called to the bar by

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1955, of which he later became a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

. Following a pupillage with Michael Kerr, Hobhouse became a tenant at 7 King's Bench Walk, the chambers of Henry Brandon, and joined the

Northern Circuit {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Northern Circuit is a court circuit in England. It dates from 1176 when Henry II sent his judges on circuit to do justice in his name. The Circuit encompassed the whole of the North of England but in 1876 i ...

. At the bar he specialised in admiralty law. He was appointed 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 1973. Hobhouse was made a High Court judge in 1982, 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 ...

, and was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1993, when he was also sworn of the Privy Council. On 1 October 1998 he was appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, becoming a life peer as Baron Hobhouse of Woodborough, of Woodborough in the County of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Family

Lord Hobhouse was married to Susannah Roskill, the daughter of Sir Ashton Roskill QC. They had two sons and one daughter. His grandfather Henry was the nephew and ward of Arthur Hobhouse, 1st Baron Hobhouse.

Notable cases

Notable judicial decisions in which Lord Hobhouse participated included: * ''

R (Factortame Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irela ...

'' ("Factortame IV", Divisional Court) * ''

R v Hinks ''R v Hinks'' [2000UKHL 53is an English case heard by the Judicial functions of the House of Lords, House of Lords on appeal from the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The case concerned the interpretation of the word "appropriates" in the Th ...

'' (House of Lords) * ''Berezovsky v Michaels'' (House of Lords) * ''Mirvahedy v Henley'' (House of Lords) * ''Lange v Atkinson'' (Privy Council) * ''B v Attorney General'' (Privy Council) * ''Auckland Harbour Board v Commissioner of Inland Revenue'' (Privy Council) * '' Dextra Bank & Trust Co Ltd v Bank of Jamaica'' (Privy Council) * '' Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson'' (House of Lords) * ''

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 ...

'' (House of Lords) * '' Tomlinson v Congleton BC'' (House of Lords) * '' Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2)'' (House of Lords) * ''

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington LBC is a leading English trusts law case concerning the circumstances under which a resulting trust arises. It held that such a trust must be intended, or must be able to be presumed to have been intended. In the view of the majority of the House o ...

'' (at first instance) * ''

Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC O ''Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham LBC'' 9922 AC 1 is an English administrative law case, which declared that local authorities had no power to engage in interest rate swap agreements because they were beyond the council's borrowing powers, and ...

'' (at first instance) * '' Morgan Grenfell & Co Ltd v Welwyn Hatfield DC'' (Divisional Court - key test case in the

local authorities swaps litigation The local authorities swaps litigation (sometimes called simply the swaps cases) refers to a series of cases during the 1990s under English law relating to interest rate swap transactions entered into between banks and local authorities. The ...

) * '' R v Bow Street Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte United States Government'' (House of Lords)

References

* * 1932 births 2004 deaths Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Hobhouse of Woodborough Hobhouse of Woodborough Members of the Inner Temple Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Queen's Bench Division judges Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Hobhouse of Woodborough Knights Bachelor

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

{{Life-peer-stub