Sir Ronald Francis Roxburgh (19 November 1889 – 19 August 1981) was a British

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

, High Court judge, and writer on

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and on the history of the

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 have ...

Life

Born at

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, Roxburgh was the only son of Francis Roxburgh (1850-1936) and Annie Gertrude Mortlock (1857-1948).Roxburgh, Sir Ronald Francis
in ''Who Was Who'' (published online December 2007, e-) After graduating from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Roxburgh was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

from the

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 1914, appointed

King's Counsel 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 ...

in 1933, became a Justice of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in 1946, knighted the same year, and retired in 1960. In his early years as a barrister he worked with the German jurist

L. F. L. Oppenheim Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim (30 March 1858 – 7 October 1919) was a German jurist. He is regarded by many as the father of the modern discipline of international law, especially the hard legal positivist school of thought. He inspired Josep ...

, a founder of the discipline of international law, who was

Whewell Professor of International Law The Whewell Professorship of International Law is a professorship in the University of Cambridge. The Professorship was established in 1868 by the will of the 19th-century scientist and moral philosopher, William Whewell, with a view to devising ...

at Cambridge. In 1935, Roxburgh married firstly Jane Minney, a daughter of Archibald H. and Lady Frances Gordon-Duff, herself a daughter of

Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue DL (4 April 1818 – 10 October 1905), known as Viscount Ebrington from 1841 to 1861, was a British peer and occasional Liberal Party politician. Life He was born in London on 4 April 1818. He was the eld ...

. They had one daughter, Mary Frances, born in 1936, who in 1959 married Brian Donald Boyd. Roxburgh's first wife died in 1960, and in 1966 he married secondly Dorothea Hodge.HODGE Dorothea M J & ROXBURGH Ronald F" in Register of Marriages for Chelsea Registration District, vol. 5A (1966), p. 1573 Roxburgh died on the 19th August 1981 and is buried in a family vault on the west side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Family grave of Ronald Roxburgh in Highgate Cemetery

Selected publications

*R. F. Roxburgh, ''The Prisoners of War Information Bureau in London; a study'', with introduction by L. Oppenheim (1915) *R. F. Roxburgh, ''International Conventions and Third States: a monograph'' (Longmans, Green and Co., 1917) *R. F. Roxburgh, "Changes in the Conception of Neutrality" in ''Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law'' 3rd Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1919), pp. 17–24 *R. F. Roxburgh, "The Future of International Law" in ''Edinburgh Review'' (Longmans, Green & Co. 1920) *

Lassa Oppenheim Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim (30 March 1858 – 7 October 1919) was a German jurist. He is regarded by many as the father of the modern discipline of international law, especially the hard legal positivist school of thought. He inspired Jose ...

, et al., ed. Ronald Francis Roxburgh, ''International Law: A Treatise'', Vol. 1 (1920) **''International Law: A Treatise, Vol. 2 War And Neutrality'' *Ronald Roxburgh, ''Origins of Lincoln's Inn'' (Cambridge University Press, 1963) *Sir Ronald Roxburgh, ed., ''The Records of the Honourable Society of Lincolns Inn: the Black Books, Volume Five, AD 1845 to AD 1914'' (1968) *R. F. Roxburgh, "Rondel v. Worsley: Immunity of the Bar" ''

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 The ...

'' 84 (1968), p. 513 *Ronald F. Roxburgh, "Lawyers in the New Temple" ''Law Quarterly Review'' 88 (1972) pp. 415–430 *Ronald Roxburgh, "Two postscripts to the Black Books, Vol. V" (1977) *Ronald F. Roxburgh, "Lincoln's Inn of the Fourteenth Century" ''Law Quarterly Review'' 94 (1978) pp. 363–382

References

External links

Sir Ronald Francis Roxburgh
at National Portrait Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Roxburgh, Ronald Francis 1889 births 1981 deaths Knights Bachelor British barristers Chancery Division judges People educated at Harrow School Members of the Middle Temple Members of Lincoln's Inn British King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Burials at Highgate Cemetery