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 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 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he was appointed to the
Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division 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 ( Engl ...
, and transferred to the
King's Bench Division 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) Justic ...
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 o ...
in 1957 and after five years in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
returned to the Court of Appeal as
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...
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
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
through his writing and his position in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
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
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great v ...
. He commented controversially about the
Birmingham Six and
Guildford Four.
Early life and studies
Denning was born on 23 January 1899 in
Whitchurch, Hampshire, to Charles Denning, a draper, and his wife Clara Denning (née Thompson). He was one of six children; his older brother
Reginald Denning 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 Gurkha ...
, and his younger brother
Norman Denning 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 bo ...
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
The National Society (Church of England and Church in Wales) for the Promotion of Education, often just referred to as the National Society, and since 2016 also as The Church of England Education Office (CEEO) is significant in the history of educa ...
. 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
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibitio ...
to study mathematics at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a 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 million as of 2019 and one of the ...
; 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 to Oxford in 1916.
[Freeman (1993) p. 38]
In addition to his Magdalen Scholarship he gained a scholarship from
Hampshire County Council worth £50 a year.
After arriving he made a favourable impression on Sir
Herbert Warren
Sir Thomas Herbert Warren, KCVO (21 October 1853 – 9 June 1930) was a British academic and administrator who was president of Magdalen College, Oxford for 43 years (1885–1928) and vice-chancellor of Oxford University (1906–10).
Early lif ...
, the president of Magdalen College, who upgraded the exhibition to a
Demyship of £80 a year and arranged for the
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths 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, 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 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
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...
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 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
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...
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. 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 ...
, 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 Fr ...
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
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
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 at
Winchester Castle decided he would like to be a barrister.
On the advice of Herbert Warren, he returned to Magdalen to study
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...
in October 1921. Thanks to Warren, Denning was elected to the
Eldon Law Scholarship, 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 oth ...
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 (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 ...
; 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
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...
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. He finished his final exam in May 1923 and came top in the bar examination, with the Inn awarding him a 100
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
s 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 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 (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''
9232 KB 723; it was accepted by the ''
Law Quarterly Review'' 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 ( Engl ...
; in 1932 he was advised by his clerk that he should not be seen in the
county court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the hig ...
s, 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''
9342 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
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 ...
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''
942
Year 942 ( CMXLII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – The Hungarians invade Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and besiege the fortress ...
2 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 e ...
. 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 ( Engl ...
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 ...
on 15 March 1944. After becoming a judge Denning was also elected a
Bencher 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''
945
Year 945 ( CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown barel ...
2 All ER 190.
With the appointment of
Lord Jowitt as
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...
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
Relate is a charity providing relationship support throughout the United Kingdom. Services include counselling for couples, families, young people and individuals, sex therapy, mediation and training courses. Relate also offers online services ...
.
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''
9461 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
A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. As a noun ''promise'' means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. As a verb it means to commit oneself by a promise to do or give. It can also mean a capacity ...
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) Justic ...
on 14 October 1948. He was sworn in as a
Privy Counsellor 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''
9522 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 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 Ta ...
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
The Matrimonial Homes Act 1967 (c. 75) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to reverse the House of Lords decision in ''National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth'' 965AC 1175, where it ruled that a deserted wife had n ...
. Much of his work in favour of the deserted wife was based around his interpretation of the
Married Women's Property Act 1882, which the House of Lords unanimously overruled in
''Pettitt'' v ''Pettitt'' 970
Year 970 ( CMLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 970th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' designations, the 970th year of the 1st millennium, the 70th year ...
AC 777 in 1970. Further notable decisions by Denning in this area were ''Heseltine'' v ''Heseltine''
971
Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men ...
1 WLR 342 in 1971 and ''Wachtel'' v ''Wachtel''
973Fam 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'' 2 All ER 575">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'' 9542 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'' 9552 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
Geoffrey Lawrence, 3rd Baron Trevethin, 1st Baron Oaksey, (2 December 1880 – 28 August 1971) was the main British judge during the Nuremberg trials after World War II, Second World War, and President of the Judicial group.
Biography
The Law ...
in 1956, Denning was offered a job as a
Law Lord
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 o ...
. 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
In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the Escutcheon (heraldry), shield and depicted holding it up.
Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. H ...
of his
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
he chose
Lord Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, PC, SL (2 March 170520 March 1793) was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland, before moving to Lond ...
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 in ...
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
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...
, 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 Ta ...
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'' 971
Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men ...
2 QB 163 in 1971 the Court of Appeal under Denning ruled that when dealing with
offer and acceptance
Offer and acceptance are generally recognised as essential requirements for the formation of a contract, and analysis of their operation is a traditional approach in contract law. The offer and acceptance formula, developed in the 19th century, id ...
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 expeditionary ...
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'' 9642 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
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
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
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...
, and Letang instead claimed damages under the tort of
trespass to the person
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land.
Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, ...
.
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'' 9731 QB 27 in 1973 he delivered a leading judgment on the subject of the recovery of
pure economic loss
Economic loss is a term of art which refers to financial loss and damage suffered by a person which is seen only on a balance sheet and not as physical injury to person or property. There is a fundamental distinction between pure economic loss and ...
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
Economic loss is a term of art which refers to financial loss and damage suffered by a person which is seen only on a balance sheet and not as physical injury to person or property. There is a fundamental distinction between pure economic loss and ...
.
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 p ...
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
John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the 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 and ...
with the British government. At a party in 1961, Profumo was introduced to
Christine Keeler, 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 and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
at the embassy of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. 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'' 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
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
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
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...
, 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, 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
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' 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
Mark Hosenball is an American national security correspondent and investigative reporter at ''Reuters''. Prior to joining Reuters in September 2010, he worked for ''Newsweek''. He started there in November 1993, after working at Dateline NBC as ...
, a journalist who had worked on a story which referred to the existence of
GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...
, 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
The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group, which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in ...
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 som ...
. 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 (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 dama ...
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 aims ...
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 St ...
. Attending were
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
,
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, (2 October 1921 – 11 July 2000) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991, having previously been Bishop of St Albans. He travelled the world widely t ...
,
Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone,
Geoffrey Howe
Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990.
Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...
,
Lord Lane
Geoffrey Dawson Lane, Baron Lane, (17 July 1918 – 22 August 2005) was a British Judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1980 to 1992. The later part of his term was marred by a succession of disputed convictions. Lane's criti ...
,
Willie Whitelaw
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...
,
Michael Havers 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
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
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 a ...
'', 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 ''The ...
''. They discussed the
Guildford Four; 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 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
Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...
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, Winc ...
, 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 depen ...
.
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
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
on 17 June 1999; among the tributes received, one was from the Lord Chief Justice
Lord Bingham
Sir Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, (13 October 193311 September 2010), was an eminent British judge who was successively Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. He was described as the greatest lawyer o ...
, 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
The Society of Genealogists (SoG) is a UK-based educational charity, founded in 1911Fowler, S School of Advanced Study, University of London. Date unknown. Retrieved 2011-10-30. to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge ...
, Honorary President of the
Council for the Protection of Rural England
CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Forme ...
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
The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (widely known as the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and abbreviated as the HMC to distinguish it from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), was a United Kingdom Royal Com ...
in 1962,
resigning in December 1982.
In 1949, he gave the inaugural
Hamlyn Lectures The Hamlyn Lectures are a series of public lectures in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland given annually on a legal topic. The lectures have been given every year since 1949.
History
The Hamlyn Trust was established in 1948 by the wil ...
at the
Senate House, University of London
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum.
The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...
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
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
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 Univers ...
. 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
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
), on the influence of religion on law.
Towards the end of his judicial career he gave the 1980
Richard Dimbleby Lecture
The ''Richard Dimbleby Lecture'' (also known as the ''Dimbleby Lecture'') is an annual television lecture founded in memory of Richard Dimbleby (1913—1965), the BBC broadcaster.
It has been delivered by an influential business, scientific or ...
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
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 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 Wale ...
in 1979 and
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
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 have ...
. In 1963, he was made a
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees.
At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...
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
Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands.
Tilb ...
. 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 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 acad ...
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 he ...
, where he was awarded an honorary law doctorate by the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown 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 research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
.
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 ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
) and
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
, 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 20t ...
. 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
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, 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
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
.
[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 Sugar cane grew wild in Fiji and was used as thatch by the Fijians for their houses (''bures''). The first attempt to make sugar in Fiji was on Wakaya Island in 1862 but this was a financial failure. With the cotton boom of the 1860s there was lit ...
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
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
, 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
The Honourable Sir Stephen Ogle Henn-Collins, CBE (14 September 1875 – 16 October 1958) was an English barrister and High Court judge.
Biography
Collins was the younger son of the distinguished lawyer and law lord Richard Collins, Baron Col ...
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 eleven[Heward (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 ...
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 b ...
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 Fundamental breach of contract, is a controversial concept within the common law of contract. The doctrine was, in particular, nurtured by Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls from 1962 to 1982, but it did not find favour with the House of Lords.
Wher ...
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 Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...
, 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
, chanc ...
, and the Denning Law Library at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a 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 million as of 2019 and one of the ...
.
Denning was also mentioned in
Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a scho ...
'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 Escutcheon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Denning_Escutcheon.png)
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
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, 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
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
...
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 mi ...
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
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See also
*
List of cases involving Lord Denning
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
1963 Denning Report - Parliament & the 1960s – UK Parliament Living Heritage
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Denning, Tom
1899 births
1999 deaths
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