Sir John Frederick Eustace Stephenson (28 March 1910 – 1 November 1998) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and judge, 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 ...

from 1971 until his retirement in 1985 and a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. As a Judge of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

he was known as Lord Justice Stephenson.

Early life

John Gilbert Talbot Vanity Fair 8 July 1897

The second son of Sir Guy Stephenson CB, by his marriage to Gwendolen Talbot, a daughter of

John Gilbert Talbot John Gilbert Talbot (24 February 1835 – 1 February 1910), was a British Conservative Party politician. Background Talbot was the son of the Honourable John Chetwynd-Talbot, the fourth son of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot. His mot ...

PC MP, Stephenson was a grandson of Sir Augustus Frederick William Keppel Stephenson (1827–1904) a

Treasury Solicitor The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...

and

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

. He had two sisters, Margaret Eglantine (born 1907) and Jane (1914) and three brothers, Augustus (1909), Paul (1913) and H. J. Stephenson (1921–1943). He was educated at West Downs,

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, holding scholarships at both. He took a first in Honours

Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...

in 1930 and another in Literae Humaniores in 1932, graduating BA in 1932.'STEPHENSON, Rt Hon. Sir John (Frederick Eustace)', in '' Who Was Who 1996–2000'' (A. & C. Black, 2001; ) His father died in 1930 while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford.Sir Guy Stephenson
at thepeerage.com, accessed 2 March 2012

Career

Stephenson 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 ...

from the

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 Wal ...

in 1934. In 1938 he joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

( Territorial Army) as a

Sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...

. In 1940 he was attached to the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps, in which he was a captain in 1943, promoted Major in 1944 and

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in 1946, serving in the Middle East and North West Europe. In 1946 he was appointed as Regional Intelligence Officer in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Following his return to civilian life, Stephenson was Recorder of

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

from 1954 to 1959, then of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, from 1959 to 1962. He was Chancellor of the Diocese of Peterborough from 1956 to 1962, then of

from 1958 to 1962. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1960, served as a Judge 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 of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

from 1962 to 1971 and simultaneously as Deputy Chairman of the

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

Quarter Sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

. On 20 April 1971, together with

Alan Stewart Orr Sir Alan Stewart Orr (21 February 1911 – 3 April 1991) was a British barrister specialising in taxation who rose to be a High Court judge and a Lord Justice of Appeal. After 1958 he was known as Alan Orr QC, from 1965 as Mr Justice Orr, a ...

, Stephenson was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal. On the same day, Sir John Passmore Widgery was created Lord Widgery and became

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. Stephenson served in the Court of Appeal for fourteen years before retiring in 1985.

Notable cases

In the case of

R v Collins ''R v Collins'' 1973 QB 100 was a unanimous appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales which examined the meaning of "enters as a trespasser" in the definition of burglary, where the separate legal questions of an invitation based on ...

(1972) in the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Courts of England and Wales#Senior Courts of England and Wales, Senior Courts of England and Wal ...

, Stephenson and Lord Justice Edmund-Davies considered the meaning of "enters as a trespasser" in the definition of burglary. The Appellant, Collins, was a nineteen-year-old who had been convicted at the Essex

Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

of burglary with intent to commit rape and had been sentenced to twenty-one months' imprisonment. After an evening's drinking he had climbed a ladder wearing nothing but his socks and was about to enter a young woman's bedroom when she woke, saw him in the moonlight on her window-sill with an erect penis, thought he was her boyfriend coming to pay her a romantic call, and invited him in. After sexual intercourse, she realised that Collins was not her boyfriend and cried rape. In the Appeal Court the sentence was quashed on the grounds that Collins had not "entered as a trespasser". In 1979 the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

of California sued the British

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Services. His ...

for

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

in the English High Court. The DHSS had suggested that Scientologists were dangerous charlatans who would worsen rather than cure

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. The plaintiff demanded

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

of letters and medical records from people who had complained to the DHSS about the Church. Stephenson declined the request, citing the church's " Fair Game" policy, which he believed was still in force. He feared that the documents would be used "not for legitimate purposes of the action but for harassment of individual patients, informants and renegades named in them, not only by proceedings for defamation against them but by threats and blackmail".

Private life

In 1951, Stephenson married Rose Asquith, the younger daughter of Lord Asquith of Bishopstone, a

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 of ...

, and they had two sons and two daughters, Mary (1952), David Guy (1954), Laura Jane (1958) and Daniel Paul Stephenson (1960).John Frederick Eustace Stephenson
at thepeerage.com, accessed 2 March 2012 At the time of his death in 1998 his address was given in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' as 26 Doneraile Street, London SW6, and he was a member of the

Hurlingham Club The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive private social and athletic club located in the Fulham area of London, England. Founded in 1869, it has a Georgian-style clubhouse set in of grounds. It is a member of the Association of London Clubs. Histo ...

, the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

, and the

Royal Wimbledon Golf Club Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

Publication

*''A Royal Correspondence: Letters of King Edward VII and King George V to Admiral Sir Henry F. Stephenson'', 1938 (ed.)

Honours

Knight 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 Gr ...

ed, 1962 *Member of

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...

, 1971 *Honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

, 1979

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, John 1910 births 1998 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford English barristers People educated at Winchester College Knights Bachelor Lords Justices of Appeal Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 20th-century English judges