Hubert Lister Parker, Baron Parker of Waddington, (28 May 1900 – 15 September 1972) was a British

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

who served as

Lord Chief Justice of England The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English an ...

from 1958 to 1971. His term was marked by much less controversy than that of his predecessor, Lord Goddard. The son of a law lord, Parker was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. Having initially intended to go into business, he was instead called to the English bar in 1922, and specialised in commercial cases. In 1945, he was appointed Treasury devil and, after refusing promotion once, was appointed to the High Court in 1950, sitting in the

King'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 ...

. He was promoted 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 ...

in 1954. In 1957, he presided over the bank rate tribunal of inquiry.

Family and early life

Parker was the son of Robert Parker, Baron Parker of Waddington, who had been 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 of ...

. He went to

(which he enjoyed; in later years he was Chairman of the Governors) and

. He graduated with a double first in Natural Sciences, specialising in

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and intending to go into the oil business. This intention he abandoned on graduating in 1922 to read for the Bar (

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 ...

) where he was called in 1924, entering the chambers of Donald Somervell.D. A. S. Cairns, 'Parker, Hubert Lister, Baron Parker of Waddington (1900–1972)', rev. Robert Stevens, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 15 Feb 2010.

Legal career

At the Bar, Parker specialised in commercial cases and developed a courtroom style that tried to be fair to all the arguments and make a case with calmness. In 1945, he became the Junior Counsel to the Treasury (Common Law) (also referred to as the "Treasury devil"), an appointment which normally led on to promotion to the High Court bench; however, when the invitation came from Lord Jowitt in 1948, Parker thought it was too soon and that he had only just become useful to the Treasury Counsel, and therefore declined. He accepted the second invitation when it came in 1950. As he went straight from being Treasury Devil to the High Court, he never 'took silk' (that is to say, he was not a

King'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 ...

): the Treasury Devil was never a 'silk'."Lord Parker of Waddington" (obituary), ''The Times'', 16 September 1972, p. 14.

Judicial career

As a judge, Parker found himself presiding over trials in areas of the law he was unfamiliar with. He claimed that the first summing up which he gave in a criminal trial was the first he had ever heard. However, by getting down to the work, he eventually mastered the job and by 1954 was promoted to the Court of Appeal. The more measured style of the appellate courts suited Parker more than the cut and thrust of the King's Bench, and his ability to get to the important details of a case was assessed as good by those who appeared before him. He proved that he had reasonable political judgment in 1957 when heading a

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...

over a minor political scandal connected with the setting of interest rates.

As Lord Chief Justice

Lord Goddard announced his resignation as Lord Chief Justice in 1958. He had been an exception to the tradition that the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

be appointed to the role and some commentators expected that the next appointment would therefore be Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Attorney-General at the time. However Manningham-Buller was widely disliked and also shared Goddard's reactionary views on criminal justice.

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

considered Viscount Kilmuir, the

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 ...

, but Kilmuir rejected the job. Macmillan therefore decided to appoint a senior judge, and Parker's name emerged as the one candidate with whom most people were happy. On 30 September 1958, Parker took the title Baron Parker of Waddington, of

in the Borough of

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

. Parker's style was totally different from Goddard as he confined himself to the higher courts and did not intervene in everyday criminal trials. He had little interest in the social life of the judiciary. He was called upon where a trial had a serious political aspect, and was criticised when he imprisoned journalists who refused to reveal their

sources Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute ...

during the Vassall tribunal of 1963. Parker's judgment stated in part "the citizen's highest duty is to the State". Parker also made history when he sentenced

George Blake George Blake ( Behar; 11 November 1922 – 26 December 2020) was a Espionage, spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the Minist ...

, convicted of spying, to 42 years imprisonment, the longest sentence then passed in an English court; the conjunction seemed to some to suggest that Parker was too close to the government of the day, though others said Parker had been shocked at the extent of the treachery that had sent dozens of Western agents to their deaths. Parker had himself said that the Courts "have a positive responsibility to be the handmaiden of administration rather than its governor"."Officials And The Rule Of Law", ''The Times'', 29 June 1960, p. 8. However, Parker was popular among the profession as he secured improvements in judicial salaries and pensions. Parker was a mild reformer who supported

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

and tried to modernise some judicial procedures which he thought were antiquated, such as the assize court system. Like Goddard, Parker took an active part in

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

debates. The most important speech he made was in debates during the passage of the War Damage Act 1965 which has the effect of retrospectively overturning the judicial decision of the House of Lords in Burmah Oil Co. v Lord Advocate thereby depriving the plaintiff of an award of damages. Parker regarded this as an abhorrent idea in principle, but his view did not carry the day. He supported moves to abolish the death penalty. In 1964 Parker instituted the first 'Sentencing conference' to try to get consistency. In the late 1960s he introduced the first formal training for Judges, and welcomed the formation of the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

. When Lord Beeching headed a committee looking at court reform in 1971, Parker's memorandum was more radical than the committee's recommendations.

Death

Parker announced his retirement before the committee reported, and died the next year at the

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

farm he ran together with his wife of 48 years.

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker of Waddington, Hubert Lord chief justices of England and Wales 20th-century English judges Parker of Waddington Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Waddington, Hubert Parker, Baron Parker of 1900 births 1972 deaths Members of Lincoln's Inn People educated at Rugby School Queen's Bench Division judges Knights Bachelor Sons of life peers Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Life peers created by Elizabeth II Parker