Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, (born 7 September 1956) is a British judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ''ad hoc'' judges at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.

Early life

Reed was educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh (where he was

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), and studied at the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, l ...

of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, taking a first class honours LLB and winning a Vans Dunlop Scholarship. He then took a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

at Balliol College, Oxford, with a doctoral thesis on "Legal Control of Government Assistance to Industry", and was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constit ...

in 1983.

Legal career

Reed was Standing Junior Counsel to the

Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service directorates in the Scottish Government. The Directorates were titled Children, Young People and Social Care; Schools; and Lifelong Learning. They were responsible ...

from 1988 to 1989, and to the Scottish Office Home and Health Department from 1989 to 1995. He was appointed

Queen'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 o ...

in 1995, and Advocate Depute in 1996. He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Court of Session and

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Cour ...

, the country's

College of Justice The College of Justice includes the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and its associated bodies. The constituent bodies of the national supreme courts are the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary, the Office of the Accountant of Court, an ...

, in 1998, with the judicial title, Lord Reed. He sat initially as a Judge of the Outer House, becoming Principal Commercial Judge in 2006. He has been one of the United Kingdom's ''ad hoc'' judges at the

, and sat in the Grand Chamber judgements on the appeals of the killers of James Bulger in 1999. Between 2002 and 2004, he was an expert advisor to the EU/ Council of Europe Joint Initiative with Turkey. He was promoted to the Inner House (First Division) in 2008, and appointed to the Privy Council. He sat on the UK Supreme Court during the illness of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, along with Lord Clarke, and succeeded Lord Rodger. He has been Chairman of the Franco-British Judicial Co-operation Committee since 2005, and was President of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment from 2006–08, now serving as Vice-President. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law from 2001 to 06, and of the UN Task Force on Access to Justice since 2006. He is Convener of the charity Children in Scotland (since 2006) and Chairman of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Commercial Law (since 2008). He has been an Honorary Professor of Law at Glasgow Caledonian University since 2005, and the

of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

since 2006. On 20 December 2011, it was announced that Reed would replace the late Lord Rodger of Earlsferry as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He was sworn in on 6 February 2012. Lord Reed was Convener of the Children in Scotland Board from February 2006–March 2012. On 31 May 2017, he assumed office as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong. On 30 March 2022, he tendered his resignation as a Hong Kong judge, citing concerns about the national security law. Reed was appointed

Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, after the President of the Supreme Court. The office is equivalent to the now-defunct position of Second ...

in May 2018, succeeding Lord Mance on his retirement. He was sworn into the new position on 6 June 2018. On 25 January 2019 he was made an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Experts in recognition of his contribution and work for Expert Witnesses. On 24 July 2019, the Queen declared her intention to appoint him President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and to raise him to the peerage. He succeeded

Baroness Hale of Richmond Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

as President on 11 January 2020 on her retirement and on the same day was created ''Baron Reed of Allermuir, of Sundridge Park in the London Borough of Bromley''. He was sworn in as president on 13 January and introduced to the House of Lords on 16 January. Writing for the UK Constitutional Law Association, Lewis Graham of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

examined the empirical evidence relating to judgements of the Supreme Court under Reed up to April 2020, and found that it has been "more conservative when it comes to public law" compared to previous years.

Notable judgments

Lord Reed's judgments are characterised by an in-depth analysis of the common law. He has handed down judgements on various important topics of the law: * ''AXA General Insurance Ltd v Lord Advocate''

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UKSC 46: On the limits on the Scottish Parliament’s powers * ''Osborn v The Parole Board''

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UKSC 61,

3 WLR 1020: On common law duty of procedural fairness * ''Bank Mellat v Her Majesty’s Treasury (No. 2)''

UKSC 39, 0141 AC 700 (Dissenting) * ''AIB Group (UK) plc v Mark Redler & Co Solicitors'' 014UKSC 58, 0143 WLR 1367: On the causation requirement for a breach of trust * ''R (Bourgass) v Secretary of State for Justice'' 015UKSC 54,

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AC 384 * ''Hesham Ali (Iraq) v Home Secretary''

UKSC 60,

1 WLR 4799 * ''

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union ''R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union'' is a United Kingdom constitutional law case decided by the United Kingdom Supreme Court on 24 January 2017, which ruled that the British Government (the executive) might not i ...

'' 017UKSC 5, 018AC 61 (Dissenting): Lord Reed wrote the leading dissenting judgment in the Article 50 litigation, holding that the Government could initiate the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union without reference to Parliament * ''Investment Trust Companies v Revenue and Customs Commissioners'' 017UKSC 29; 018AC 275 * '' R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor'' 017UKSC 51, 0173 WLR 409: Declaring employment tribunal fees set by Lord Chancellor unlawful * ''

Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police is a leading English tort law case on the test for finding a duty of care. An elderly woman was injured by two police officers attempting to arrest a suspect and she claimed that the police owed her a duty of care not to be put in danger. The UK ...

'' 018UKSC 4, 018AC 736: the duty of care owed by police officers under the common law * ''Morris-Garner & Anor v One Step (Support) Ltd'' 018UKSC 20, 019AC 649: On the availability of negotiating damages for breach of contract * ''Jonathan Lu & Others v Paul Chan Mo-Po & Another'' 018HKCFA 11, (2018) 21 HKCFAR 94: On the concept of malice in the common law of defamation in the context of qualified privilege * ''

R (Miller) v Prime Minister ''R (Miller) v The Prime Minister'' and ''Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland'' ( 019UKSC 41), also known as ''Miller II'' and ''Miller/Cherry'', were joint landmark constitutional law cases on the limits of the power of royal prerogat ...

'' 019UKSC 41,

020 020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...

AC 373: Declaring the prorogation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson as unlawful (joint judgment with Lady Hale) * ''WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants''

UKSC 12,

2 WLR 941: On vicarious liability * '' Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd''

UKSC 31,

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AC 39: on the rule against

reflective loss In United Kingdom company law, reflective loss is the loss of individual shareholders that is inseparable from general loss of the corporation, company. The rule against recovery of reflective loss states that there should be no double recovery, so ...

* '' R (Begum) v Special Immigration Appeals Commission & Anor''

UKSC 7,

2 WLR 556: On whether Shamima Begum should be returned to the United Kingdom to challenge the Home Secretary's decision to deprive her nationality

Honours and awards

In 2015 Reed was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Lord Reed is High Steward of the University of Oxford and succeeded

Lord Rodger Alan Ferguson Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry, (18 September 1944 – 26 June 2011) was a Scottish academic, lawyer, and Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He served as Lord Advocate, the senior Law Officer of Scotlan ...

as Visitor of Balliol College, Oxford.

Personal life

He married Jane Mylne, Lady Reed in 1988, with whom he has two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Robert 1956 births Living people Academics of Glasgow Caledonian University Academics of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Law Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British judges of international courts and tribunals Crossbench life peers Deputy Presidents of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Hong Kong judges Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Members of the Faculty of Advocates Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at George Watson's College 20th-century King's Counsel

Reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...