Dame Joyanne Winifred Bracewell DBE QC

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(5 July 1934 – 9 January 2007) was the most senior judge of the

Family Division 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 and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

of the

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at the time of her death, after the

President of the Family Division The President of the Family Division is the head of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales and Head of Family Justice. The Family Division was created in 1971 when Admiralty and contentious probate cases were remove ...

Personal life

Bracewell was born on 5 July 1934 in

Burnage Burnage is a suburb of the city of Manchester in North West England, about south of Manchester city centre and bisected by the dual carriageway of Kingsway. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the population of the Bur ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. She was the daughter of Jack Bracewell, the director of a cotton manufacturing company, and Lilian ( Gibson) Bracewell. She was a child actress, appearing on ''

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

'' in productions of

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's plays and in two comedy films made in Manchester in 1948, ''

Cup-tie Honeymoon ''Cup-tie Honeymoon'' was the first motion picture to be filmed at the Dickenson Road Studios by the Mancunian Film Corporation in 1948, themed around football. Plot summary A business man's son (Powell) has to choose between playing for his ...

'' and ''

Holidays with Pay ''Holidays with Pay'' is a 1948 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea and Dan Young. The film follows the Rogers family as they go on holiday to Blackpool and enjoy a series of adventures. P ...

''. After being educated mostly at home, she studied at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, receiving her

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in 1954 and her

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in 1956. On 12 September 1963, she married Roy Copeland, a gifted jazz musician. They adopted two children, Philippa and Adam.

Career

She was called to the

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in 1955 and did her

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at the Bar from 1955 to 1956 with Godfrey Heilpern. She then became a tenant of his chambers in Manchester. As women were not able to attend bar mess dinners, she was elected to the circuit at the business court instead. She was a Member of 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 ...

from 1955 to 1990, and was appointed QC in 1978.

Judicial career

She was a

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of the

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between 1975 and 1983, and was a Circuit Judge on the Northern Circuit from 1983 to 1986, moving to the Western Circuit from 1986 to 1990. In 1990, she became the fifth woman to be appointed as High Court judge, after Elizabeth Lane,

Rose Heilbron Dame Rose Heilbron DBE, QC (19 August 1914 – 8 December 2005) was a British barrister who served as a High Court judge. Her career included many "firsts" for a woman – she was the first woman to achieve a first class honours degree in l ...

Margaret Booth Margaret Booth (January 16, 1898 – October 28, 2002) was an American film editor. Early life and career Born in Los Angeles, she started her Hollywood career as a "patcher", editing films by D. W. Griffith, around 1915. Her brother was actor ...

, and

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC (''née'' Havers; born 10 August 1933), is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and was the highest-ranking female judge in the United King ...

. As is customary, she was created

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(DBE). She was largely responsible for drafting, and oversaw the introduction of, the

Children Act 1989 The Children Act 1989 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which allocates duties to local authorities, courts, parents, and other agencies in the United Kingdom, to ensure children are safeguarded and their welfare is promoted. It centres on th ...

, serving as Family Law Division Liaison Judge in the

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from 1990 to 1997; she was also Chair of the Children Act Advisory Committee from 1993 to 1997. She worked on the ''Annual Report'' and the ''Handbook of Best Practice in Children Act Cases'' (1997). She was involved in many high-profile cases. In 2004, she was praised by

Fathers4Justice Fathers 4 Justice (or F4J) is a fathers’ rights organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, the group aims to gain public and parliamentary support for changes in UK legislation on fathers' rights, mainly using stunts and protest ...

as "one of the more enlightened members of the judiciary" after she gave a residence order to a father whose former wife repeatedly refused him access, in defiance of earlier court orders. In February 2006, she ruled that two children should live with their mother's former same-sex partner, after the mother took the children to live in a different county, in defiance of a shared residence order. Her order was upheld by 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 ...

but overturned by the

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. Her proposals for early intervention were codified in the

Children and Adoption Act 2006 The Children and Adoption Act 2006 (c 20) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The precursors of the Act are:Explanatory notesparagraphs 3 and 4/ref> *Parental Separation: Children's Needs and Parents' Responsibilities ( Cm 6273), ...

. She was awarded an honorary LLD by Manchester University in 1991, and was appointed Fellow,

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in 1994. She was a consulting editor for ''Butterworth's Family Law Service'' from 1989 until her death, and editor in chief of ''The Family Court Practice'' from its first publication in 1993.

Death

Dame Joyanne Bracewell died of metastasized

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

on 9 January 2007, aged 72, at St Margaret's Hospice,

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

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. She was survived by her husband and children.

References

External links

Death in Service - Mrs Justice Bracewell
Press release 4/07 from the Judicial Communications Office, 10 January 2007
Tribute paid to family court judge
''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers and in-house counsel. It is based in London. History and profile ''The Lawyer'' was launched in 1987 by Centaur Media plc. It publ ...

'', 10 January 2007
Family court's top judge dies
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 10 January 2007
The Lynch Country House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracewell, Joyanne 1934 births 2007 deaths Alumni of the University of Manchester Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English barristers English women judges Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in England Family Division judges Members of Gray's Inn Lawyers from Manchester 20th-century English lawyers 20th-century English women 20th-century English judges 20th-century British women lawyers 20th-century women judges