Sir James Roualeyn Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce PC (9 March 1912 – 12 June 2000) 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 ...

and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who was 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 ...

from 1977 to 1985.

Biography

Roualeyn Cumming-Bruce was the third son of the

Charles Edward Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 6th Baron Thurlow Charles Edward Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 6th Baron Thurlow (6 October 1869 – 23 April 1952), was a British peer and minor cleric. Educated at Eton and then Trinity College, Cambridge, Thurlow was ordained in 1898 and undertook a number of ...

, and the younger of identical twin boys. His grandfather was a British Liberal politician who was Paymaster-General in 1886. Earlier relations were Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellor. His eldest brother Harry became 7th Baron Thurlow in 1952, and his elder twin brother

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

became 8th Baron Thurlow in 1971. Roualeyn was educated at Shrewsbury School and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, where he took a first in

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. He became an honorary Fellow at Magdalene in 1977. Cumming-Bruce was an active

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

whilst at Cambridge, once arguing during a debate at the Cambridge Union that "hope lay in the adoption of the Soviet system – a system which combined the spirit of democracy with swift and certain action."T. E. B. Howarth, ''Cambridge Between Two Wars'' (London: Collins, 1978), p. 224. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1937, where he became a Bencher in 1959 and was Treasurer in 1975. In the Second World War, he served in the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the Middle East, becoming a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He resumed his mixed legal practice after the war. He was Chancellor of the Diocese of Ripon from 1954 to 1957, Recorder of Doncaster from 1957 to 1958 and Recorder of York from 1958 to 1961. He was appointed Junior Counsel to the Treasury (Common Law) in 1959. In 1964 he became a High Court judge (as Mr Justice Cumming-Bruce), in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division (later the Family Division) and received the customary knighthood. He presided over some interesting divorce cases: he granted a divorce to the wife of Tony Hancock for cruelty and adultery. Despite a conviction for

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is invo ...

18 months earlier, he was promoted to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

(as Lord Justice Cumming-Bruce) and joined the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1977. One of his early appeal cases was ''

Miller v. Jackson ''Miller v Jackson'' 977QB 966 is a famous Court of Appeal of England and Wales case in the torts of negligence and nuisance. The court considered whether the defendant - the chairman of a local cricket club, on behalf of its members - was liab ...

'', in which he joined Lord Denning in ruling that a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

club could continue to play matches on a village green, even though balls were occasionally hit onto neighbouring properties.

Family

He married Lady Sarah Savile, the youngest daughter of the 6th Earl of Mexborough, in 1955. She predeceased him in 1991. They had a daughter and two sons. His identical twin brother

, the eighth Baron Thurlow, was High Commissioner to New Zealand from 1959 to 1963, High Commissioner to Nigeria from 1963 to 1966, and Governor of The Bahamas from 1968 to 1972. Francis was a knight in the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(KCMG).

References

Obituary
'' The Daily Telegraph'', 14 June 2000
Obituary
'' The Guardian'', 15 June 2000
Obituary
''York Evening Press'', 19 June 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cumming-Bruce, Roualeyn 1912 births 2000 deaths British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century English judges Family Division judges Lords Justices of Appeal Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Shrewsbury School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Identical twins Younger sons of barons Roualeyn English twins Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division judges Royal Artillery officers