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Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. 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 ...
of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he was appointed 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 ...
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 and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
, and transferred to the
King'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 ...
in 1945. He was made 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 ...
in 1948 after less than five years in the High Court. He became a
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 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 ...
in 1957 and after five years in the House of Lords returned to the Court of Appeal as Master of the Rolls in 1962, a position he held for twenty years. In retirement he wrote several books and continued to offer opinions on the state of the common law through his writing and his position in the House of Lords. Margaret Thatcher said that Denning was "probably the greatest English judge of modern times". Denning's appellate work in the Court of Appeal did not concern criminal law. Mark Garnett and Richard Weight argue that Denning was a conservative Christian who "remained popular with morally conservative Britons who were dismayed at the postwar rise in crime and who, like him, believed that the duties of the individual were being forgotten in the clamour for rights. He had a more punitive than redemptive view of criminal justice, as a result of which he was a vocal supporter of corporal and capital punishment." However, he changed his stance on capital punishment in later life. Denning became one of the highest profile judges in England in part because of his report on the Profumo affair. He was known for his bold judgments running counter to the law at the time. During his 38-year career as a judge, he made large changes to the common law, particularly while in the Court of Appeal, and although some of his decisions were overturned by the House of Lords several of them were confirmed by Parliament, which passed statutes in line with his judgments. Appreciated for his role as "the people's judge" and his support for the individual, Denning attracted attention for his occasionally flexible attitude to the common law principle of precedent. He commented controversially about the
Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...
and
Guildford Four Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildfo ...
.


Early life and studies

Denning was born on 23 January 1899 in
Whitchurch, Hampshire Whitchurch is a town in the borough of Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire, England. It is on the River Test, south of Newbury, Berkshire, north of Winchester, east of Andover and west of Basingstoke. Much of the town is a Conservation Area. ...
, to Charles Denning, a draper, and his wife Clara Denning (née Thompson). He was one of six children; his older brother
Reginald Denning Lieutenant General Sir Reginald Francis Stewart Denning (12 June 1894 – 23 May 1990) was a British Army staff officer and administrator. Military career Reginald Denning was born in Whitchurch, Hampshire, in 1894 to Charles and Clara Den ...
later became a staff officer with the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
, and his younger brother
Norman Denning Vice-Admiral Sir Norman Egbert Denning, (19 November 1904 – 27 December 1979) was a Royal Naval and Intelligence Officer at the Admiralty and Defence Intelligence Staff who served as Director of Naval Planning from 1945 to 1956, Director of ...
became Director of Naval Intelligence and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Intelligence). Denning was born two months earlier than expected and almost died at birth; he was so small and weak that he was nicknamed ' Tom Thumb' and could fit in a pint pot.Heward (1990) p. 6 He was named after
Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who b ...
by his sister Marjorie, and was baptised on 23 April 1899 at All Hallows Church, Whitchurch. Denning, along with his older brother Gordon, began his schooling at the National School of Whitchurch, one of many set up by the National Society for the Education of the Poor. Both boys won scholarships to
Andover Grammar School John Hanson Community School is a coeducational community secondary school, located in Andover, in the English county of Hampshire. It was formerly known as Andover Grammar School, which dates back to the 16th century and is the oldest school ...
, where Denning excelled academically, winning four prizes for English essays on the subjects of "The Great Authors", " Macaulay", " Carlyle" and " Milton". The outbreak of the First World War saw most of the schoolmasters leave to join the British armed forces, being replaced by female teachers. At the time Denning wanted to become a mathematician, but none of the new teachers knew enough mathematics to teach him; instead, he taught himself.Heward (1990) p.10 He qualified to study at University College, Southampton, but was advised to stay at school and apply to Oxford or Cambridge in a few years. He sat the Oxbridge examination when he was sixteen and was awarded a £30 a year exhibition to study mathematics at
Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 ...
; the money was not enough to live on, but he accepted nevertheless. Although he had been accepted by a college he still needed to gain entry to the university as a whole, which meant passing exams including Greek – which had not been taught at Andover Grammar School. Denning managed to teach himself enough of the subject to pass, and
matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...
to Oxford in 1916.Freeman (1993) p. 38 In addition to his Magdalen Scholarship he gained a scholarship from
Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is an English council that governs eleven of the thirteen districts geographically located within the ceremonial county of Hampshire. As one of twenty-four county councils in England, it acts as the upper tier ...
worth £50 a year. After arriving he made a favourable impression on Sir Herbert Warren, the president of Magdalen College, who upgraded the exhibition to a Demyship of £80 a year and arranged for the
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Londo ...
to give Denning a £30 a year scholarship. Despite military training in the early morning and evening, Denning worked hard at his studies, and obtained a First in Mathematical
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 ' ...
, the first half of his mathematics degree, in June 1917.Freeman (1993) p.53


War service

Denning was told he would be ineligible to serve in the Armed Forces because of a
systolic heart murmur Systolic heart murmurs are heart murmurs heard during systole, i.e. they begin and end between S1 and S2. Many involve stenosis of the semilunar valves or regurgitation of the atrioventricular valves. Types * Mid-systolic ejection murmurs are ...
, which he believed the doctor diagnosed because he was tired of sending young men off to die. He successfully appealed against the decision, and enlisted on 14 August 1917 as a cadet in the
Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The reg ...
before being sent to 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 head ...
Oxford University Officer Training Corps. He trained at Newark and was temporarily commissioned as a second lieutenant on 17 November 1917. Although he was old enough to serve in the armed forces, regulations meant that he was not allowed to serve in France until he was nineteen. In March 1918, the German Army advanced closer to
Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...
and Paris and Denning's unit was sent to France to help stop the advance. Under continuous shell fire for three months, the company and the
38th (Welsh) Infantry Division The 38th (Welsh) Division (initially the 43rd Division, later the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division and then the 38th Infantry (Reserve) Division) of the British Army was active during both the First and Second World Wars. In 1914, the division ...
held their section of the
line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...
, with a unit under Denning's command building a bridge to allow infantry to advance over the
River Ancre The Ancre (; ) is a river of Picardy, France. Rising at Miraumont, a hamlet near the town of Albert, it flows into the Somme at Corbie. It is long. For most of its length it flows through the department of Somme. For a short stretch near P ...
.Heward (1990) p. 11 Denning went two days without sleep while building these bridges; shortly after one was completed, a German aeroplane dropped a bomb on it, forcing them to start again. The unit advanced over the River Ancre and the
Canal du Nord The Canal du Nord (, literally ''Canal of the North'') is a long canal in northern France. The canal connects the Canal latéral à l'Oise at Pont-l'Évêque to the Sensée Canal at Arleux. The French government, in partnership with coal-min ...
, but Denning fell ill with influenza and was in hospital for the last few days of the war.Heward (1990) p. 12 When writing of his experiences in World War I in ''The Family Story'', Denning summed up his war service with characteristic pithiness in just four words: "I did my bit". Denning's oldest brother, Captain John Edward Newdigate Denning, was killed near
Gueudecourt Gueudecourt () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History During the Battle of the Somme, the town of Gueudecourt had represented one of the most distant objectives for the British drive that opened on 1 ...
on 26 September 1916 whilst serving with the
Lincolnshire Regiment The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...
. His brother, Sub-Lieutenant Charles Gordon Denning, who saw action in the
Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Ad ...
, died of tuberculosis on 24 May 1918 whilst serving with the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
on HMS ''Morris''. Denning would describe his dead brothers as the best of him and his siblings.


Return to Oxford

Denning was demobilised on 6 February 1919, and returned to Magdalen College four days later. He initially thought about turning to applied mathematics, but decided on pure mathematics. He studied hard, not participating in any of the university's numerous societies or clubs so that he could better focus on his work, and graduated in 1920, placing in the first class of the Mathematical Greats (the final undergraduate examinations for the subject). He was offered a job teaching mathematics at Winchester College for £350 a year, which he accepted. As well as mathematics, he taught geology, despite not having studied it; instead, he "read up on tthe night before".Freeman (1993) p. 86 He found the job boring, and after viewing the
Assize Court 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 ex ...
at
Winchester Castle Winchester Castle is a medieval building in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall still stands; it houses a museum of the history of Winchester. History Early history Around AD 70 the Romans constructed a ...
decided he would like to be a barrister. On the advice of Herbert Warren, he returned to Magdalen to study Jurisprudence in October 1921. Thanks to Warren, Denning was elected to the
Eldon Law Scholarship The Eldon Law Scholarship is a scholarship awarded to students from the University of Oxford who wish to study for the English Bar. Applicants must either have obtained a first class honours degree in the Final Honours School, or obtained a dist ...
, worth £100 a year, to finance his studies; when the news of Denning's election was brought, Warren wrote "you are a marked man. Perhaps you will be a Lord of Appeal some day".Heward (1990) p. 14 Denning took his final examinations in June 1922 and impressed the examiner,
Geoffrey Cheshire Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire, (27 June 1886 – 27 October 1978) was a British barrister, scholar, and influential writer on law. He was the father of Leonard Cheshire, the British war hero and founder of the Cheshire Foundation Homes for ...
, by correctly answering questions on the Law of Property Act which had been given
Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
only a few days before. Denning gained a high grade in all his subjects except jurisprudence, which he described as "too abstract a subject for my liking". He did not return to read for a
Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Camb ...
(BCL) but instead attempted to gain a prize fellowship at
All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...
; he failed to be accepted, something he put down to his poor pronunciation of Latin.Heward (1990) p. 15


The Bar

Denning was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 4 November 1921, choosing it because the Under Treasurer was a graduate of Magdalen College. On the advice of his brother's friend Frank Merriman he applied to 4 Brick Court, Middle Temple, a small set of chambers run by Henry O'Hagan. He was accepted and began work there in September 1922, before he had taken his final
bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...
. He finished his final exam in May 1923 and came top in the bar examination, with the Inn awarding him a 100  guineas a year studentship of three years. 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 ...
on 13 June 1923, and was offered a tenancy by O'Hagan. His first few years were spent receiving small
briefs Briefs (or a brief) are a type of short, form-fitting underwear and swimwear, as opposed to styles where material extends down the thighs. Briefs have various different styles, usually with a waistband attached to fabric that runs along the pel ...
from clients, including work prosecuting those who failed to pay rail tickets and fines. During this time, he also wrote a manual for the railway police giving guidance on incidents such as taxi drivers who refused to take a customer to a destination within the area specified by the
Public Carriage Office Taxicabs are regulated throughout the United Kingdom, but the regulation of taxicabs in London is especially rigorous with regard to mechanical integrity and driver knowledge. An official report observed that: "Little however is known about ...
(which they were legally obliged to do). He wrote his first article in 1924 titled " Quantum meruit and the Statute of Frauds" on the decision in ''Scott'' v ''Pattison''
923 __NOTOC__ Year 923 ( CMXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * June 15 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I is killed; the Frankish ar ...
2 KB 723; it was accepted by the ''
Law Quarterly Review The ''Law Quarterly Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering common law throughout the world. It was established in 1885 and is published by Sweet & Maxwell. It is one of the leading law journals in the United Kingdom. History ...
'' and published in January 1925. His work steadily increased in amount and quality throughout the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1930s, he was making most of his court appearances in the senior courts such as 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 and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
; in 1932 he was advised by his clerk that he should not be seen in the county courts, and that he should leave this work for lesser members of the chambers.Heward (1990) p. 22 In 1929, he helped edit several chapters of ''Smith's Leading Cases (13th ed.)'' and in 1932 acted as a supervising editor for the 9th edition of Bullen & Leake's ''Precedents for Pleadings in the King's Bench Division''. In 1932, he moved to his own set of chambers in Brick Court, and by 1936 he was earning over £3,000 a year (roughly £200,000 a year in 2020). A significant case was ''
L'Estrange v F Graucob Ltd ''L'Estrange v F Graucob Ltd'' 9342 KB 394 is a leading English contract law case on the incorporation of terms into a contract by signature. There are exceptions to the rule that a person is bound by his or her signature, including fraud, misr ...
''
934 Year 934 ( CMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring and Summer – The Hungarians make an alliance with the Pecheneg ...
2 KB 394, where he successfully argued an exemption clause was incorporated because a contract was signed. He said that 'If you are an advocate you want your client to win. If you are a judge you don't care who wins exactly. All you are concerned about is justice'. From 1937 until 1944, he was
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the Diocese of Southwark, and from 1942 to 1944 was Chancellor of the
Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the nort ...
. He applied to become a King's Counsel on 15 January 1938. The appointments were announced on 7 April; he "took silk" on 9 April and received letters of congratulation from, among others, Rayner Goddard. After the start of the Second World War, Denning volunteered; he was too old for active service, and was instead appointed legal advisor to the North East Region. In 1942, he took the case of '' Gold v Essex County Council'' 9422 KB 293, which changed the law to make hospitals liable for the professional negligence of their staff. In December 1943, a judge was taken ill, and Denning was asked to take his place as a
Commissioner of Assize 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 ...
. This was regarded as a 'trial' for membership of the judiciary, and Denning was appointed
Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
of Plymouth on 17 February 1944. On 6 March 1944, while arguing a case in the House of Lords, Denning was taken aside by the Lord Chancellor and told that he wanted Denning to become a judge at 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 and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division. Denning accepted, and the announcement was made before the conclusion of the appeal.


High Court

Denning was officially appointed on 7 March 1944 with a salary of £5,000, and received 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 ...
on 15 March 1944. After becoming a judge Denning was also elected 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 ...
of Lincoln's Inn, and became its treasurer in 1964. Denning had little experience with divorce law and disliked it; it was seen as an inferior type of law. There were few good barristers specialising in divorce law; two other barristers were sworn into the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division along with Denning, and of the three only one had ever practised divorce law. His work as a divorce judge was relatively sound; his decisions were overturned only once, in ''Churchman'' v ''Churchman'' 9452 All ER 190. With the appointment of Lord Jowitt as Lord Chancellor in 1945, Denning was transferred to the King's Bench Division, where Jowitt thought his talents would be better put to use (with Hildreth Glyn-Jones QC, later a High Court judge, greeting him with the words "welcome home"). In 1946, he travelled the Western Circuit but was recalled by the Lord Chancellor to chair a committee looking at the reform of procedure in divorce cases. He continued working as a judge while chairing the daily committee. The committee was appointed on 26 June 1946 and published its first report in July, which reduced the time between '' decree nisi'' and ''decree absolute'' from 6 months to 6 weeks.Heward (1990) p. 40 The second report was published in November, recommending that County Court judges should be appointed to try cases, and the final report was published in February 1947 recommending the establishment of a Marriage Welfare Service. The reports were well received by the public and led to Denning being invited in 1949 to become President of the National Marriage Guidance Council. His appointment to the King's Bench Division allowed him to hear pension appeals, and he attempted to reform the principles applied by the government minister and the Pensions Tribunals. In ''Starr'' v ''Ministry of Pensions''
946 Year 946 ( CMXLVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – King Otto I invades the West Frankish Kingdom with an expeditionary for ...
1 KB 345 he ruled that it was up to the tribunals to prove that an injury was not due to war service, reversing the previous state of affairs where a claimant would have to prove their injuries were due to war service before they would be granted a pension.Heward (1990) p. 44 In ''James'' v ''Minister of Pensions''
947 Year 947 ( CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading ...
KB 867 he also allowed for judges to approve time extensions for the claimant to gather more evidence when such extensions had been rejected by the Tribunal. These two cases made a large difference to applicants, and he received praise from both the
British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...
and the public. The government refused to do anything about those servicemen who had been rejected by the courts prior to Denning's judgment, which provoked public outcry under the slogan 'Fit for Service, Fit for Pension'. The British Legion chose 73 cases and asked Denning to let the Legion present them while the courts were not sitting; Denning heard all 73 cases on 11 July 1946. In 1947, he decided in ''Central London Property Trust Ltd'' v ''High Trees House Ltd''
947 Year 947 ( CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading ...
KB 130 (known as the High Trees case), which was a milestone in
English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...
. It resurrected the principle of promissory estoppel established in ''Hughes'' v ''Metropolitan Railway Co'' (1876–77) LR 2 App Cas 439 and has been both praised and criticised by lawyers and legal theorists. As a High Court judge Denning sentenced people to death, which he said at the time "didn't worry imin the least". Denning maintained that for murder, death was the most appropriate penalty, and that in cases where mistakes had been made there was always an appeals system.Freeman (1993) p. 231 In the 1950s there was growing opposition to the use of the death penalty, and a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate abolishing it. Denning told the Commission in 1953 that "the punishment inflicted for grave crimes should adequately reflect the revulsion felt by the great majority of citizens for them". He later changed his mind about capital punishment, regarding it as unethical. In 1984, he wrote "Is it right for us, as a society, to do a thing – hang a man – which none of us individually would be prepared to do or even witness? The answer is 'no, not in a civilised society'".Freeman (1993) p. 232


Court of Appeal

After less than five years as a judge, Denning was appointed 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 ...
on 14 October 1948. He was sworn in as a
Privy Counsellor 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 ei ...
on 25 October 1948. As a Lord Justice of Appeal, he continued to make reforming judgments in a variety of areas, particularly in family law and the rights of deserted wives. In ''Bendall'' v ''McWhirter''
952 Year 952 ( CMLII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – At the Reichstag in Augsburg (assembled by King Otto I), joined by German nobl ...
2 QB 466 he ruled that a deserted wife occupying the marital home had a personal licence to stay there. The decision provoked disapproval among the judiciary and from the public; a correspondent wrote:
Dear Sir: You are a disgrace to all mankind to let these women break up homes and expect us chaps to keep them while they rob us of what we have worked for and put us out on the street. I only hope you have the same trouble as us. So do us all a favour and take a Rolls and run off
Beachy Head Beachy Head is a chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council which owns the land, formi ...
and don't come back.
This was effectively nullified with the case ''National Provincial Bank Ltd'' v ''Ainsworth''
965 Year 965 ( CMLXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II conquers the fortress cities of Tar ...
AC 1175 in 1965, which ruled that the deserted wife had no licence to stay. The decision was very unpopular and led to the passing of the Matrimonial Homes Act 1967. Much of his work in favour of the deserted wife was based around his interpretation of the
Married Women's Property Act 1882 The Married Women's Property Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.75) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly altered English law regarding the property rights of married women, which besides other matters allowed married women ...
, which the House of Lords unanimously overruled in ''Pettitt'' v ''Pettitt'' 970AC 777 in 1970. Further notable decisions by Denning in this area were ''Heseltine'' v ''Heseltine'' 9711 WLR 342 in 1971 and ''Wachtel'' v ''Wachtel''
973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...
Fam 72 in 1973, which created basic rules for dividing family assets in a divorce case, something which had not previously been established in the law. In 1951, he gave a significant dissenting judgment in the case ''Candler'' v ''Crane, Christmas & Co'' regarded as a 'brilliant advancement to the law of negligent misstatements' and which was later approved of by the House of Lords in ''Hedley Byrne v Heller & Partners Ltd'' 9632 All ER 575. In ''Combe'' v ''Combe'' in 1952 he elaborated on his resurrected doctrine of promissory estoppel, saying that it could be a 'shield' not a 'sword'; it could be used to defend a claim, but not to create a cause of action where none existed. In 1954, his decision in ''Roe'' v ''Minister of Health''
954 Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in the c ...
2 AER 131 altered the grounds on which hospital staff could be found negligent, a legal precedent he himself had set in ''Gold'' v ''Essex County Council'' in 1942. In 1955, his leading judgment in ''Entores Ltd'' v ''Miles Far East Corporation''
955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also ...
2 QB 327 implemented a way to judge the moment of
acceptance Acceptance in human psychology is a person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it or protest it. The concept is close in meaning to ...
in an instantaneous or near-instantaneous method of communication; like the 'High Trees' case it is still valid.


House of Lords

After the resignation of Lord Oaksey in 1956, Denning was offered a job as a Law Lord. After a period of contemplation (he worried that such an appointment would reduce his chances of becoming Master of the Rolls or Lord Chief Justice) he accepted, and was formally offered the job on 5 April 1957. He was appointed on 24 April 1957, as Baron Denning, of Whitchurch in the County of Southampton; for the supporters of his coat of arms he chose Lord Mansfield and
Sir Edward Coke ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
. Many members of the judiciary and the Bar approved of his appointment, but he was warned that he should move slowly to reform the court. During his time in the House of Lords, he also served as Chairman of the
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 i ...
of East Sussex. Denning did not enjoy his time in the House of Lords and clashed frequently with Gavin, Viscount Simonds, who was known as a conservative and orthodox judge.Heward (1990) p. 89 Despite his reputation as a fiercely individual judge, Denning dissented in only 16% of cases he heard in the House of Lords; fewer than Lord Keith, who dissented 22% of the time. On 9 May 1960, Denning was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex.


Master of the Rolls

In 1962, Lord Evershed resigned as Master of the Rolls, and Denning was appointed to replace him on 19 April 1962 with a salary of £9,000. Although Denning himself described it as "a step down" he was pleased with his appointment, as he had much preferred his time with the Court of Appeal than the House of Lords. Court of Appeal judges sit in threes, and the Lords in fives (or more), so it was suggested that to get his way in the Court of Appeal Denning only had to persuade one other judge whereas in the House of Lords it was at least two. The other "benefit" of the Court of Appeal is that it hears more cases than the House of Lords, and so has a greater effect on the law. During his twenty years as Master of the Rolls, Denning could choose both which cases he heard, and the judges with whom he sat. Therefore, on most issues, he effectively had the last word; comparatively few cases went on to the House of Lords, which was at that time Britain's highest court of law. As Master of the Rolls he selected cases he felt to be particularly important to hear and, rather than having an American system (where judges had a rota for taking cases), assigned cases to those judges who had expertise in that particular area of law. In 1963, he chaired a committee investigating ways to reduce the archive of legal documents kept by the
Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...
; by that point the files for civil cases of the High Court alone occupied four miles of shelving. The final report was presented to the Lord Chancellor on 16 May 1966, with the conclusion being that "if our proposals are implemented the Public Record Office alone will be relieved of two hundred tons of records (occupying 15,000 feet of shelving)". The Lord Chancellor took Denning's report to heart, and had the changes he recommended implemented immediately.


Contract law

Denning gave the leading judgment in ''D & C Builders Ltd'' v ''Rees''
965 Year 965 ( CMLXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II conquers the fortress cities of Tar ...
2 QB 617 in 1965. D & C Builders Ltd (the respondent) had been hired by Rees (the appellant) to do some construction work at his shop, where he sold building materials. The respondent finished the work and repeatedly phoned the appellant to request the money they were owed. After three phone calls spread out over several months the appellant's wife spoke to the respondents; she said there were several problems with the work that they had done, and she would only pay £300 of the £482 owed. The respondents replied that £300 would barely cover the costs of the materials, but that they would accept it anyway. If the respondents had not received the money they would have gone bankrupt, something the appellant's wife was well aware of. In his judgment, Denning modified English case law on part payment and
accord and satisfaction Accord and satisfaction is a contract law concept about the purchase of the release from a debt obligation. It is one of the methods by which parties to a contract may terminate their agreement. The release is completed by the transfer of valuable ...
, saying that the rules on part payment can be set aside in situations where one of the parties is under duress. The fact that D & C Builders were effectively forced into accepting the lesser amount meant that the payment was not valid. In ''Thornton'' v ''Shoe Lane Parking Ltd'' 9712 QB 163 in 1971 the Court of Appeal under Denning ruled that when dealing with offer and acceptance between a person and an automated machine the offer was made by the machine. In ''Butler Machine Tool Co Ltd'' v ''Ex-Cell-O Corp Ltd''
979 Year 979 ( CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 24 – Second Battle of Pankaleia: An Ibero-Byzantine expeditionar ...
1 WLR 401 in 1979 Denning reformed case law in relation to the so-called ' Battle of the Forms'.


Tort law

Denning gave the leading judgment in ''Letang'' v ''Cooper''
964 Year 964 ( CMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatoli ...
2 All ER 929 in 1964. Mrs Letang, on holiday in Cornwall, decided to lie down and rest in grass outside a hotel. Cooper drove into the hotel car park and, not seeing Letang, ran over her legs. More than three years after the events, Letang brought a tort case against Cooper, claiming damages for her injuries. The standard tort for personal injuries is that of
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
, which has a three-year statute of limitations, and Letang instead claimed damages under the tort of trespass to the person. In his judgment, Denning stated that the tort of trespass could only be used if the injury was inflicted intentionally; if it was unintentionally, only negligence could be used. In ''Spartan Steel and Alloys Ltd'' v ''Martin & Co. Ltd''
973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...
1 QB 27 in 1973 he delivered a leading judgment on the subject of the recovery of pure economic loss in
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
. Spartan Steel were a company that manufactured stainless steel in Birmingham, and their factory was powered by electricity. Less than a mile away from the factory, Martin & Co were doing maintenance work on a road when they accidentally unearthed and damaged the power cable providing the factory with electricity. Due to the power being off, the factory lost a large amount of money; £368 on damaged goods, £400 on the profits they would have made from those goods and £1,767 for the steel they could not make due to the power outage. The question was what Spartan Steel could claim money for. Martin & Co agreed they were negligent, and offered to pay for the damaged goods and the profit that Spartan Steel would have made on those goods, but refused to pay damages for the steel Spartan Steel could not make due to the power outage. In his judgment, Denning agreed that they would only have to pay for losses associated with the damaged goods, not the money lost on the steel that could not be made due to the power outage because it counted as pure economic loss. For
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
reasons, Denning would not allow the recovery of pure economic loss, stating in his judgment that: #Statutory utility providers are never liable for damages caused by their negligence. #A blackout is a common hazard and a risk which everyone can be expected to tolerate from time to time. #If claims for pure economic loss in such cases were allowed, it might lead to countless claims, some of which may be spurious. #It would be unfair to place the entire weight of many comparatively small losses upon the shoulders of one person in such cases. #The law does not leave the claimant without remedy by allowing him to recover the economic losses that are directly consequential upon physical damage. The Court of Appeal's decision in ''Spartan Steel'' has been criticised, firstly for being based on public policy rather than any legal principle,Oughton (1987) p. 374 and secondly because the main public policy ground for their decision (that allowing claims of pure economic loss would lead to countless claims) has never been backed up by evidence. The House of Lords eventually ruled in ''Junior Books v Veitchi''
982 Year 982 ( CMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Emperor Otto II (the Red) assembles an imperial expeditionary force at Tar ...
3 All ER 201 that pure economic loss was recoverable.


The Profumo affair

Denning delivered a report into the Profumo affair. John Profumo was the
Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office a ...
with the British government. At a party in 1961, Profumo was introduced to
Christine Keeler Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...
, a showgirl, and began having an affair with her. At the same time, she was in a relationship with Yevgeni Ivanov, a
naval attaché A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
at the embassy of the Soviet Union. On 26 January 1963, Keeler was contacted by police on an unrelated matter and voluntarily gave them information about her relationship with Profumo. The police did not initially investigate; no crime had been committed, and the morals of ministers were not their concern. Although the relationship lasted only a few weeks it became public knowledge in 1962. Keeler attempted to publish her memoirs in the ''
Sunday Pictorial The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...
'' in January 1963 but Profumo, still insisting that he had done nothing wrong, forced them to back down with threats of legal action should the story be published. Profumo made a statement in the House of Commons on 22 March, saying that "there was no impropriety whatsoever in my acquaintanceship with Miss Keeler". On 4 June 1963, he contacted the Chief Whip and the Prime Minister's private secretary and informed them that he had indeed been having an affair with Keeler; therefore, he sent a letter of resignation to the Prime Minister, which was accepted. On 21 June 1963, Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister at the time, asked Denning to lead an enquiry into the "circumstances leading to the resignation of the former Secretary of State for War, Mr J. D. Profumo". He started work on 24 June and began speaking to witnesses a day later. This period of the inquiry took 49 days and involved his speaking to 160 people. He concluded that the primary responsibility for the scandal was with Profumo, for associating with Keeler and for lying to his colleagues, with the greatest error being his false statement in the House of Commons. He also said that the situation had been looked at in the wrong way by police, members of parliament and the security services; rather than asking if Profumo had committed adultery they should have asked if his conduct had led ordinary people to believe he committed adultery. His analogy was with divorce law; a man does not need to have committed adultery for his wife to have grounds to divorce him, but rather she simply has to believe that he has committed adultery. This is because such a belief would destroy the trust and confidence within the relationship. This brought criticism from several government ministers including Sir John Hobson, the
Attorney-General for England and Wales His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney G ...
, saying that it would mean condemning a man on the basis of suspicion rather than evidence. Denning's final report was 70,000 words long and was completed in the summer of 1963. He signed it on 16 September and it was published ten days later. It was a best-seller; 105,000 copies were sold, 4,000 in the first hour, with people queuing outside
Her Majesty's Stationery Office The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...
to buy copies. The full report was published in '' The Daily Telegraph'' as a supplement and was described as "the raciest and most readable
Blue Book A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. The ...
ever published". The report was criticised as a "whitewash", a claim Denning rejected; he said that "while the public interest demands that the facts should be ascertained as completely as possible there is a higher interest to be considered, namely the interest of justice to the individual which overrides all others".


National security

In 1977, Denning upheld the deportation of Mark Hosenball, a journalist who had worked on a story which referred to the existence of GCHQ, which was considered to be a state secret. In the ruling, he argued that the government's decisions in these cases were beyond legal review, writing:
"There is a conflict here between the interests of national security on the one hand and the freedom of the individual on the other. The balance between these two is not for a court of law. It is for the Home Secretary. He is the person entrusted by Parliament with the task. In some parts of the world national security has on occasions been used as an excuse for all sorts of infringements of individual liberty. But not in England."


Illness and controversy

In 1979, he began to experience hip and leg problems; one of his legs had shortened an inch and a half and he had to learn to walk again. Although he remained otherwise in good health this was a sign of his increasing age, and the disabilities that came with it began to affect his judgments as well. In the UPW's anti-apartheid boycott of postal services to and from South Africa, The Freedom Association sought an injunction to prevent the
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict so ...
. Denning granted a temporary injunction, and years later wrote of "bad workers" (who joined the boycott) and "good workers" (who worked normally). In 1980, during an appeal by the
Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...
(who were later acquitted), Denning judged that the men should be stopped from challenging legal decisions. He listed several reasons for not allowing their appeal:
Just consider the course of events if their action were to proceed to trial ... If the six men failed it would mean that much time and money and worry would have been expended by many people to no good purpose. If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous. ... That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, "It cannot be right that these actions should go any further."
In 1982, he published ''What Next in the Law''; in it, he seemed to suggest some members of the black community were unsuitable to serve on juries, and that immigrant groups may have had different moral standards to native Englishmen. His remarks followed a trial over the
St Pauls riot The St Pauls riot occurred in St Pauls, Bristol, England on 2 April 1980 when police raided the Black and White Café on Grosvenor Road in the heart of the area. After several hours of disturbance in which fire engines and police cars were dam ...
in Bristol; two jurors on the case threatened to sue him and the
Society of Black Lawyers The Society of Black Lawyers (SBL) was founded in the United Kingdom by Rudy Narayan in 1969, as the Afro-Asian and Caribbean Lawyers Association. By 1981, it was known as its current name. It was co-chaired by Narayan and Sibghat Kadri. It aim ...
wrote to the Lord Chancellor to request that Denning "politely and firmly" be made to retire.Freeman (1993) p. 393 Denning apologised for his remarks on 21 May and handed a letter to the Lord Chancellor detailing his resignation, effective as of 29 September. On 5 July, George Thomas held a dinner in Denning's honour at the
Speaker's House Speaker's House is the residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is located in the Palace of Westminster in London. It was originally located next to St Step ...
. Attending were Margaret Thatcher, Robert Runcie, Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, Geoffrey Howe, Lord Lane, Willie Whitelaw,
Michael Havers Robert Michael Oldfield Havers, Baron Havers (10 March 1923 – 1 April 1992), was a British barrister and Conservative politician. From his knighthood in 1972 until becoming a peer in 1987 he was known as Sir Michael Havers. Early life and m ...
and Christopher Leaver. On 30 July 1982, his last day in court, Denning prepared four judgments and, dressed in his official robes and in the company of the Lord Chief Justice, delivered his farewell speech to over 300 lawyers crowded into the court. He delivered his last judgment on 29 September in ''George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd'' v ''Finney Lock Seeds Ltd''
983 Year 983 ( CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II (the Red) declares war against the Byza ...
2 AC 803 and, characteristically, dissented, though the House of Lords would later unanimously uphold his dissent.


Retirement and death

In retirement, Denning removed to Whitchurch and continued the work he had done outside court hours, lecturing and presenting awards. He also on occasion dispensed legal advice; in February 1983, he advised Patrick Evershed on the statutory duties of water suppliers. Further hip troubles were resolved with a full replacement in March 1983, although a fall later that year forced him to stay at home for six weeks. With free time on his hands Denning spoke in the House of Lords on matters that interested him, supporting an amendment to the
Abortion Act 1967 The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS ...
and bills designed to allow the administration of companies in financial difficulties. In 1983, he published the final volume of his autobiography ''The Closing Chapter'' and a year later published ''Landmarks in the Law''. His final book titled ''Leaves from my Library'' was published in 1986; it was a collection of his favourite pieces of prose, and was subtitled "An English Anthology". He appeared in an episode of the children's television programme ''
Jim'll Fix It ''Jim'll Fix It'' is a British television series broadcast by the BBC between May 1975 and July 1994 and was devised and presented by Jimmy Savile and produced by Roger Ordish. The show encouraged children to write in a letter to Savile with ...
'', helping to grant a thirteen-year-old girl's wish to be a barrister for a day. By 1989, his health was failing; he was suffering from dizzy spells, and after falling from a train at
Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...
he was advised he should not visit London again unless he was driven. In the summer of 1990, he agreed to a taped interview with A.N. Wilson, to be published in ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...
''. They discussed the
Guildford Four Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildfo ...
; Denning remarked that if the Guildford Four had been hanged "They'd probably have hanged the right men. Just not proved against them, that's all". His remarks were controversial and came at a time when the issue of miscarriage of justice was a sensitive topic. He had expressed a similar controversial opinion regarding the
Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...
in 1988, saying: "Hanging ought to be retained for murder most foul. We shouldn't have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they'd been hanged. They'd have been forgotten, and the whole community would be satisfied... It is better that some innocent men remain in jail than that the integrity of the English judicial system be impugned." In the same article, according to Wilson, "Denning the Europhobe told me that it was 'entirely wrong' for this country to have put its interests in Europe into the hands of 'a German Jew, if you please' called Leon Brittan. When I questioned the accuracy of this description of Sir Leon, Denning reaffirmed it: 'Look him up – you'll see he was a German Jew.'" Leon Brittan was, in fact, born in England, the child of Lithuanian immigrants. Denning appeared on a radio programme aimed at the Jewish community to apologise, saying "that Jewish refugees from Hitler’s Germany had contributed a great deal in the fields of science, culture, art, law and music. 'I’d like to express my gratitude to those of that origin who came and have done so much for England,' he added." On 25 November 1997, he was appointed to the
Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
; by this point he was too weak to travel to London to receive it, so instead a representative of the Queen travelled to Whitchurch to present it to him. He celebrated his 100th birthday in Whitchurch on 23 January 1999, receiving telegrams from both the Queen and Queen Mother. A male choir sang "
Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 ''Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "Fo ...
" and the local church had a new bell named "Great Tom" cast in his honour specifically for the occasion. By this point his health had deteriorated even further; he was legally blind and required a hearing aid. On 5 March 1999 he fell ill and was rushed to
Royal Hampshire County Hospital The Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester is a District General Hospital serving much of central Hampshire. It is owned and run by the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It is commonly abbreviated to RHCH, or alternatively, Winche ...
, where he died of an
internal haemorrhage Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depe ...
. He was the last veteran of World War I to sit in the House of Lords. Denning was buried in his home town of Whitchurch, in the local churchyard. A memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on 17 June 1999; among the tributes received, one was from the Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham, who described Denning as 'the best-known and best loved judge in our history'.


Other work

As well as his work as a barrister and judge, Denning was involved in supporting student law societies and other groups; at various times he was Vice-President of
Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...
Law Society and a patron of the Legal Research Foundation, the United Law Clerks' Society and the Commonwealth Legal Education Association. He also spent time as the Vice-President of the Society of Genealogists, Honorary President of the Council for the Protection of Rural England and Honorary President of the
Glasgow University Dialectic Society The Glasgow University Dialectic Society, re-instituted in 1861, is a student society at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, committed to the promotion of debating, logic, ethics and literary discussion at the university. The society is indep ...
.Heward (1990) p. 122 From 1950 he acted as an administrator and fund-raiser for
Cumberland Lodge Cumberland Lodge is a 17th-century Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. Since 1947 it has been occupied by the charitable foundation known as Cumberland Lodge, which holds residential conferences ...
. After being made aware of the Le Court charity for invalid ex-servicemen by
Geoffrey Cheshire Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire, (27 June 1886 – 27 October 1978) was a British barrister, scholar, and influential writer on law. He was the father of Leonard Cheshire, the British war hero and founder of the Cheshire Foundation Homes for ...
, Denning became the chairman of the organisation in 1952. In 1953, he was elected President of
Birkbeck College, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...
and on 18 March presented the 1952 Haldane Memorial Lecture on the subject of the rule of law and the welfare state.Freeman (1993) p. 227 In 1964, he was made President of the English Association in recognition of his contributions to English prose.Freeman (1993) p. 304 He became Chairman of the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1962, resigning in December 1982. In 1949, he gave the inaugural
Hamlyn Lectures The Hamlyn Lectures are a series of public lectures A public lecture (also known as an open lecture) is one means employed for educating the public in the arts and sciences. The Royal Institution has a long history of public lectures and demonstr ...
at the Senate House, University of London under the title ''Freedom under the Law''. The success of these lectures led to his being invited to speak at many more events; in early 1950 he spoke at University College, Dublin and in June spoke at the Holdsworth Club meeting at
Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univer ...
. In February 1953 he gave a speech on 'the need for a new equity' to the Bentham Club at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...
, and in May gave the thirty-third Earl Grey Memorial Lecture at King's College, University of Durham (now, part of Newcastle University), on the influence of religion on law. Towards the end of his judicial career he gave the 1980 Richard Dimbleby Lecture on the subject of "Misuse of Power". In addition to being a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1944 he was made an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple in 1972,
Gray's Inn 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 Wal ...
in 1979 and Inner Temple in 1982, making him the only person to be elected a Bencher or Honorary Bencher of all four
Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They ha ...
. In 1963, he was made a Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford. In 1977, he was awarded with an honorary doctorate in the Netherlands, by Tilburg Law School, part of Tilburg University. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire on 2 June 1978.


Overseas travels

Throughout his career Denning travelled abroad to lecture and learn more about other legal systems. In 1954, he was sponsored by the
Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...
to travel to South Africa and visit the universities there in the court vacation. He visited all six universities, accompanied by his son Robert and wife Joan, lecturing on the role of the judiciary and the press in safeguarding freedom. In 1955, he travelled to the United States at the behest of the
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acade ...
and was elected an honorary member, followed by a trip to Canada a year later as a guest of the
Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was h ...
, where he was awarded an honorary law doctorate by the University of Ottawa and made a life member of the Canadian Bar Association.Heward (1990) p. 173 In 1958, he visited Israel and from there travelled to Poland, where he was surprised by both the number of female judges and how badly they were paid. In 1961, he travelled again to Israel to give the Lionel Cohen Lecture at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...
. In January 1964, Denning and his wife Joan travelled to India and Pakistan, visiting cities such as Madras (now
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...
) and
Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...
, meeting eminent jurists and speaking with
Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 2 ...
. He again visited Canada and the United States in the long vacation of 1964 and addressed a full conference hall in New York. On 14 August 1965, he and his wife flew to South America for a month-long tour of the continent sponsored by the
British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
. The couple visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru before flying north to visit Mexico City.Freeman (1993) p. 315 On 6 January 1966, the couple flew to Malta, where Denning spoke at legal conferences and lectures. In the same year, they flew to San Francisco, Fiji and finally to New Zealand to take part in the law conference at Dunedin, New Zealand. His lecture at the conference so impressed an Australian visitor that he was invited in 1967 to speak at the Australian Law Society annual conference. On the return home, the couple briefly stayed in Delhi, where they gave a dinner for members of the Indian Bar who had welcomed them during their visit in 1964. In 1968, they again visited Canada, and Denning was given an honorary degree by McGill University.Freeman (1993) p. 323 In 1969, he again travelled to India, this time on an official visit with Elwyn Jones and Sir John Widgery. In August 1969, he travelled to Fiji to arbitrate in a dispute between a majority of Fijian sugarcane growers and the Australian owners of the refining mills, which he was permitted to do on the condition he did not take a fee. Denning refused to have any contact with the government as a way to emphasise his neutrality in the situation. The agreements between growers and millers had been based on a contract written in 1961 due to end in March 1970. The growers were convinced that they were getting a bad deal; in response to their demand for better terms the mill-owners threatened to leave Fiji. Despite criticism from both sides at the beginning of the arbitration process, Denning came up with a solution which redressed matters in favour of growers, creating a new formula for working out prices and requiring that the mill owners have an accountant inspect their accounts and report back to the growers. Denning's decision impressed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who invited him to report on the banana growing industry in Jamaica in the vacation of 1971. His foreign travels to lecture on English law led to him being described as the "Ambassador-at-Large for the common law".


Judicial style

Denning was known for his excellent memory, repeating notes almost verbatim in his exams at Oxford and on one occasion identifying the exact book, page and paragraph of text in a judgment that covered a particular situation.Heward (1990) p. 27 As a judge he attempted to make his decisions and the law publicly understandable, believing that the public would not want to follow the law unless they believed and understood that it was just. In his cases, he referred to the parties by name in his judgments rather than as "plaintiff" and "defendant" and used short sentences and a "storytelling" style of speech shown in the case ''Beswick'' v ''Beswick'' where his judgment started:
Old Peter Beswick was a coal merchant in Eccles, Lancashire. He had no business premises. All he had was a lorry, scales, and weights. He used to take the lorry to the yard of the National Coal Board, where he bagged coal and took it round to his customers in the neighbourhood. His nephew, John Joseph Beswick, helped him in his business. In March 1962, old Peter Beswick and his wife were both over 70. He had had his leg amputated and was not in good health. The nephew was anxious to get hold of the business before the old man died. So they went to a solicitor, Mr. Ashcroft, who drew up an agreement for them.
In court, Denning preferred to let counsel talk on for as long as they wanted to so that he could get a grasp of the situation without wading through irrelevant court papers; to prevent them going on too long he sat quietly and allowed them to wind down at their own pace. Denning was also known for his long working schedule; when he served as Master of the Rolls he sat for five full days a week, and required reserved judgments (about one case in ten) to be written during the weekend. He expected the other justices to keep to the same schedule as himself, and was repeatedly warned about overwork. Fellow judge Stephen Henn-Collins wrote him a poem:
My brother pray be warned by me
And always rise in time for tea
And when you feel you must sit late
Remember my untoward fate
Don't go on sitting until seven
But sit next morning at elevenHeward (1990) p. 116
Unlike most of the judiciary, Denning firmly believed that the press should have access to the courts and freedom to criticise magistrates and judges. He believed all legal proceedings should be held in public, quoting
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
when he said that "in the darkness of secrecy all sorts of things can go wrong. If things are really done in public you can see that the judge does behave himself, the newspapers can comment on it if he misbehaves — it keeps everyone in order". For many years, Denning was the president of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, and he once wrote that "Without religion there is no morality, and without morality there is no law." His Christian beliefs sometimes affected his judgments, particularly on the subject of the sanctity of marriage. In ''Re L (infants)'' he reversed a decision to give the children of a couple to the wife in a divorce case, believing that should the wife get custody of the children there would be no chance of saving the marriage. Denning's style was consistently unique and regularly discussed by appellate judges. In the appeal of Denning's final case,
Lord Diplock William John Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, (8 December 1907 – 14 October 1985) was a British barrister and judge who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary between 1968 and until his death in 1985. Appointed to the English High Court in 1 ...
commented "I cannot refrain from noting with regret, which is, I am sure, shared by all members of the Appellate Committee of this House, that Lord Denning M.R.'s judgment in the instant case, which was delivered on September 29, 1982 is probably the last in which your Lordships will have the opportunity of enjoying his eminently readable style of exposition and his stimulating and percipient approach to the continuing development of the common law to which he has himself in his judicial lifetime made so outstanding a contribution."


Legacy

Denning has been described as the most influential judge of the 20th century, in part because of his changes to the common law and also due to his personalisation of the legal profession. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher referred to Denning as "probably the greatest English judge of modern times" and former Prime Minister Tony Blair lauded him as "one of the great men of his age". The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, said "Lord Denning was the best-known and best-loved judge of this or perhaps any generation" and "a legend in his own lifetime". With his judgments on war pensions and his role in the enquiry into the Profumo affair, Denning became possibly the best-known judge ever to belong to the English judiciary, with the public treating Denning and the Court of Appeal as synonymous. He was equally well-loved and controversial, appreciated for his role as 'the people's judge' and his support for the common man and disliked by elements of the bar and judiciary for 'uncertainty in the law' created by his broad judgments. Denning made sweeping changes to the Common Law, with the resurrection of
equitable estoppel Estoppel is a judicial device in common law legal systems whereby a court may prevent or "estop" a person from making assertions or from going back on his or her word; the person being sanctioned is "estopped". Estoppel may prevent someone from ...
and his reform of divorce law. A common misconception is that most of his judgments were overturned in the House of Lords; many were, including the expansion to the doctrine of fundamental breach he set out in ''Photo Production Ltd'' v ''Securicor Transport Ltd'', but they let many judgments stand and on occasion agreed with his judgment in situations where he dissented, such as in his final case ''George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd'' v ''Finney Lock Seeds Ltd'' in 1983. Several law-related things have been named after Denning due to his reputation as a judge, in particular the Lord Denning Scholarship of Lincoln's Inn, the Denning Law Journal of the
University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chance ...
, and the Denning Law Library at
Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 ...
. Denning was also mentioned in Flanders and Swann's revue ''
At the Drop of Another Hat ''At the Drop of Another Hat'' is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, similar in format to its long-running predecessor, '' At the Drop of a Hat'' (1956). In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. T ...
'', in the song "Sounding Brass", in which Flanders says:
I've been asked to screen Lord Denning
For security, you know.


Personal life

Denning met his future wife Mary Harvey on 25 October 1914 aged fifteen at his confirmation; she was the daughter of the Vicar of Whitchurch. Denning attempted to court her for many years, but for a long time his love was unrequited, with Mary wanting them to be only friends. After a dance at Beaulieu on 18 January 1930 she told him of her love for him, and he returned to Hampshire with her to pick out an engagement ring. Barely six months away from the set date for their wedding Mary was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but she recovered and the couple were married on 28 December 1932, with the wedding officiated by Cecil Henry Boutflower,
Bishop of Southampton The Bishop of Southampton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Winchester, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the city of Southampton in Hampshire. The current b ...
.Heward (1990) p. 17 The couple moved to London in 1933 but the city at the time was sooty and foggy. This affected Mary's health, and after treatment at Guy's Hospital she was transferred to Brompton Hospital, where she had a lung removed. After recovering, she moved to Southampton to stay with her parents for two years, with Denning visiting every weekend. By 1935, she had fully recovered, and the couple bought a house in Tylers Green, Cuckfield, called Fair Close. Their son, Robert, was born on 3 August 1938; he later became a Dean at Magdalen College, Oxford, teaching inorganic chemistry. Mary developed
gallstones A gallstone is a stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to the presence of migr ...
in 1941, and after an initial recovery had a haemorrhage on 21 November, dying the next morning. In 1945, Denning met Joan Stuart, a widow with three children: Pauline, Hazel and John. They married on 27 December 1945, and were by all accounts happy together. On 19 October 1992, she suffered a massive heart attack; although she survived the initial attack she died a few days later on 23 October.Freeman (1993) p. 415


Publications

* * * * * * * * *


See also

* List of cases involving Lord Denning


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * *


External links


1963 Denning Report - Parliament & the 1960s – UK Parliament Living Heritage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Denning, Tom 1899 births 1999 deaths Military personnel from Hampshire Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I English King's Counsel Burials in Hampshire Deputy Lieutenants of Hampshire Deputy Lieutenants of Sussex English Anglicans English centenarians 20th-century English judges English legal writers Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Law lords Masters of the Rolls Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Knights Bachelor Members of the Order of Merit Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Men centenarians People associated with Birkbeck, University of London People from Whitchurch, Hampshire Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division judges Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel Royal Engineers officers Lords Justices of Appeal 20th-century English lawyers Honorary Fellows of the British Academy Lawyers from Hampshire