Thomas James Chesshyre Tomlin, Baron Tomlin, PC (6 May 1867 – 13 August 1935) was a British barrister and judge.

Early life and career

Born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, Kent, the son of a barrister, Tomlin was educated at Harrow School and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a first-class degree in Jurisprudence and second-class honours in the BCL. He was called to the bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

(1891) and ''

ad eundem Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

'' by Lincoln's Inn (1892). He was the pupil, then the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, of Robert Parker, until the latter was appointed to the High Court in 1906; Tomlin, whose practice had until then been a moderate one, inherited most of Parker's practice. He was Junior Equity Counsel to the

Board of Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

, the Board of Trade, the

Commissioners of Woods and Forests The Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues were established in the United Kingdom in 1810 by merging the former offices of Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases and Surveyor General of the Land Revenues of the Crown in ...

, the Charity Commissioners, and the Board of Education. He

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...

in 1913 and was elected a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

of Lincoln's Inn in 1928

Judicial career

In 1923, Tomlin was appointed as a judge to the

Chancery Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

of the High Court 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 ...

. As a Chancery judge, he was responsible for the creation of the eponymous

Tomlin order A Tomlin order is a court order in the English civil justice system under which a court action is stayed on terms that have been agreed in advance between the parties and are included in a schedule to the order. As such, it is a form of consent ...

. On 11 February 1929, he was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (without first serving on the Court of Appeal) and was created a life peer with the title Baron Tomlin, of

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

in the County of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and was sworn into the Privy Council. As Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, he is perhaps best remembered for his leading judgment in the ''Duke of Westminster's case'' concerning

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdi ...

, in which he said:

Every man is entitled if he can to order his affairs so that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be. If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure this result, then, however unappreciative the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or his fellow tax-payers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax. ''Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Duke of Westminster'' 936AC 1

In addition to his judicial work, Tomlin served on a number of committees. He chaired the

Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors is a periodic Royal Commission of the United Kingdom used to hear patent disputes. On 6 October 1919 a Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was convened to hear 11 claims for the invention of the tank; ...

between 1923 and 1933. He was also the chairman of the Child Adoption Committee, the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Commissioners, the Home Office advisory committee on the Cruelty to Animals Act, and the Royal Commission on the Civil Service.

Personal life

He married Marion Olivia Waterfield in 1893; they had two daughters and three sons, the youngest of whom was the sculptor

Stephen Tomlin Stephen Tomlin (2 March 1901 – 5 January 1937) was a British artist associated with the Bloomsbury Set. He was the youngest son of the judge and law lord Thomas, Lord Tomlin of Ash. Life Tomlin studied classics at New College, Oxford fr ...

Important judgments

* ''Dashwood v Dashwood'', 927WN 276, 64 LJNC 431, 71 Sol Jo 911 * ''Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Duke of Westminster'' 936AC 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlin, Thomas Tomlin Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 1867 births 1935 deaths Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council People educated at Harrow School Alumni of New College, Oxford English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the Inner Temple Members of Lincoln's Inn Chancery Division judges Knights Bachelor People from Canterbury Life peers created by George V