Sir John Brinsmead Latey,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(7 March 1914 – 24 April 1999) was a British judge. Born in London, Latey was the son of the divorce barrister William Latey QC and the grandson of the journalist John Latey. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, where he took a Third in Jurisprudence in 1935. He 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 ...

by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1936. Initially refused for wartime service due to poor eyesight, Latey was commissioned into the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before t ...

in 1942, and subsequently transferred to the Judge Advocate's Department. He was appointed a MBE (Military Division) in 1943. After the War he returned to the bar, and was appointed a

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 1957. In 1965, on the recommendation of Lord Gardiner, Latey was appointed to the High Court and assigned to the

Probate, Divorce and Admiralty 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 ...

, 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 Gr ...

. He was appointed to 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 ...

in 1986, and retired from the bench in 1989. In 1965–67, he chaired a committee that reviewed reducing the UK's age of majority from 21 to 18. The committee's recommendation was accepted in the Family Law Reform Act of 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latey, John 1914 births 1999 deaths Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division judges Royal Army Pay Corps officers English King's Counsel Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II