Sir Bernard Caulfield (24 April 1914 – 17 October 1994) was a British barrister and High Court judge who served in the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

from 1968 to 1989. Known for his verbal floridness in court, he is perhaps best remembered for presiding over

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist and former politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a fina ...

's libel action against the '' Daily Star'' in 1987, which later led to Archer's conviction and imprisonment for perjury.

Early life and legal career

Bernard Caulfield was the youngest son of John Caulfield St Helens, and Catherine Quinn. He was educated at St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool and

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

, graduating with an LL.B. in 1938 and an LL.M. in 1940, qualifying as a solicitor the same year. He was called up for military service the same year, and served in the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

, reaching the rank of Major. On returning to civilian life in 1946, he transferred to the Bar, and 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 ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1947. He joined the Midland Circuit in 1949 and was appointed a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1961. Caulfield was Recorder of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

from 1963 to 1968 and Leader of the

Midland Circuit Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

from 1965 to 1968.

Judicial career

Caulfield was appointed to 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 (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

in 1968 on the recommendation of Lord Gardiner, the Labour

lord chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

and a close colleague at the Bar, with whom he is thought to have shared political sympathies. He received the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

the same year and was assigned to the

. He spent almost his entire judicial career on circuit, mostly on the Northern Circuit, of which he was the presiding judge from 1976 to 1980. His infrequent London sittings were thought to be a major factor in foreclosing promotion to the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

. On the bench, Caulfield was famous for his florid language, particularly in summing-ups.

Archer libel trial

In 1987 he presided over

's libel action against tabloid the '' Daily Star'', which had published a story alleging that Archer had paid for sex with the prostitute Monica Coghlan. The description Caulfield gave of Mrs Archer in his summing-up speech to the jury, heavily in favour of Archer, acquired a certain notoriety:

Remember Mary Archer in the witness-box. Your vision of her probably will never disappear. Has she elegance? Has she fragrance? Would she have, without the strain of this trial, radiance? How would she appeal? Has she had a happy married life? Has she been able to enjoy, rather than endure, her husband Jeffrey?

The judge then went on to say of Jeffrey Archer:

Is he in need of cold, unloving, rubber-insulated sex in a seedy hotel round about quarter to one on a Tuesday morning after an evening at the Caprice?

Explaining the payment to Coghlan as the action of a philanthropist rather than that of a guilty man, Archer won the case and was awarded £500,000 damages, but in July 2001 was convicted of perjury in relation to the evidence he gave at the trial. He received four years in prison. Caulfield was spared the embarrassment of seeing this, having died in October 1994.

Other notable trials

Among his other notable cases, in 1984 he tried the burglar and rapist Malcolm Fairley at St Albans Crown Court. Describing Fairley as "a decadent advertisement for evil pornographers", Caulfield gave him six life sentences.

References

* https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-171600 {{DEFAULTSORT:Caulfield, Bernard 1914 births 1994 deaths Knights Bachelor Queen's Bench Division judges English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel English solicitors Members of Lincoln's Inn Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers British Army personnel of World War II Alumni of the University of Liverpool