Sir Arthur Evan James, PC, DL (18 May 1916 – 13 May 1976) was a British judge and was a member of the Court of Appeal from 1973 to his death.

Early life

James was educated at Caterham School and then at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

where he obtained a double first in law followed, in 1939, by a BCL. He joined

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 ...

and was called to the bar in 1939. He married in 1939 and had four children. He joined the army as a private in the Pioneer Corps before being commissioned in the Royal Corps of Signals.

Judicial career

He was appointed QC in 1960,

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Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

(1961–1963) and Recorder of

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(1963–1965). He received considerable public attention in 1963 when he appeared for the prosecution in the Great Train Robbery trial. In 1964, James was asked to chair the

statutory inquiry The Inquiries Act 2005 (c 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the explanatory notes, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for ...

into the circumstances surrounding the Metropolitan Police's Detective Sergeant Harold Challenor's being able to plant evidence and assault suspects. In 1965, he was appointed a High Court Judge, assigned to the

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. He received the customary

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on his appointment. He was elected to an honorary fellowship of Jesus College in 1972. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1973 and was sworn as a member of the Privy Council accordingly. He had a reputation as a hard-working judge. When he was a member of the Court of Appeal, it was once said (albeit with some exaggeration) that James made more decisions on criminal cases than the rest of his fellow judges put together, when taking into account decisions made without open court hearings. He was a member of the

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from its foundation in 1967 to 1970 (serving as deputy-chairman in 1970). He chaired the 1971 Tribunal of Enquiry into the failure of the Vehicle and General Insurance Company. He later led the committee considering the distribution of work between the Crown Court and the

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s, which reported in 1976. He was appointed deputy lieutenant for the County of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

in 1967, and was a trustee of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts from 1974 until his death. He always considered himself to be a Birmingham man and continued to live there despite his judicial appointments in various locations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Arthur 1916 births 1976 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers Royal Corps of Signals officers Deputy Lieutenants of Warwickshire English barristers Lords Justices of Appeal Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Caterham School Lawyers from Birmingham, West Midlands Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel 20th-century English judges