Sir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach , KC (3 February 1883 – 26 January 1960) was a British judge who served as a judge of the Rangoon High Court from 1933 to 1937, Chief Justice of the

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

from 1937 to 1947 and a member of the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...

from 1949 to 1960.

Early life and education

Lionel Leach was born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, the son of barrister Robert Alfred Leach on 3 February 1883. Lionel Leach 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 1907.

Career

In 1933, Leach was appointed puisne judge of the Rangoon High Court. He served until 1937 when he was transferred to Madras as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. He was knighted in the

1938 New Year Honours The 1938 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 1 January 1938.United Kingdom and Britis ...

. The most important trial of his tenure was the

Lakshmikanthan Murder Case The Lakshmikanthan murder case was a high-profile criminal trial that was conducted in the then Madras Presidency between November 1944 and April 1947. The cause of the trial was the murder of C. N. Lakshmikanthan, a Tamil film journalist. Laksh ...

and Leach presided over the sensational trial in 1944 in which

M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar Mayavaram Krishnasamy Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar (1 March 1910 – 1 November 1959), also known by his initials as M. K. T., was an Indian actor, producer and Carnatic music, Carnatic singer. He is considered to be one of the most successful actor ...

and

N. S. Krishnan Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar () and also as NSK, was an Indian actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is conside ...

were found guilty. Leach served until 1 February 1947 and was succeeded by William Gentle. In 1949, Leach

took silk 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 or ...

, was sworn 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 ...

, and headed the Singapore Riots Inquiry Commission of 1951 that made recommendations after the

Maria Hertogh riots Maria Hertogh (born ''Huberdina Maria Hertogh''; 24 March 1937 – 8 July 2009), also known as Bertha Hertogh, Nadra binte Ma'arof, Nadra Adabi and simply as Natrah, was a Dutch woman of Eurasian extraction and Malay upbringing, notable for bei ...

. He was appointed by Governor Sir Franklin Gimson.

Death

Lionel Leach died in his chambers at

Gray's Inn Square The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

on 26 January 1960 at the age of 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Lionel 1883 births 1960 deaths People from Rochdale Members of Gray's Inn Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Chief Justices of the Madras High Court Knights Bachelor British India judges Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom British Burma judges English King's Counsel British people in colonial India British people in British Burma