Sir Thomas Scott Gillespie Baker, PC, KC (born 10 December 1937) is a retired English Court of Appeal judge. Scott Baker is the eldest son of

Sir George Baker Sir George Baker, 1st Baronet, FRS, FSA (1 January 1722 – 15 June 1809) was physician to King George III. He was born in Modbury, Devon, the son of George Baker, vicar of Modbury, Devon and his wife Bridget Harris. He was educated at Eton ...

, a former High Court judge who was President of the Family Division from 1971 to 1979. One of his brothers, Judge Michael Baker, KC, was the Resident judge at

St Albans Crown Court St Albans Crown Court is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, in Bricket Road, St Albans, England. History Until the early 1990s, crown court hearings were held in the Old Town Hall in St Peter's Street. However, as the number ...

. Scott Baker was educated at Haileybury & Imperial Service College, and studied at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

. He was a member of Chorleywood Urban District Council from 1964 to 1967. He married Margaret Joy Baker on 10 February 1973. The couple has 2 sons and one 1 daughter. He was called to the bar at 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 ...

in 1961, and practised in a range of legal areas, including family finance cases, and professional

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as ...

. He became a recorder in 1976, and was appointed a

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 or ...

in 1978. He became 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 ...

at Middle Temple in 1985. He was a member of the Committee that inquired into human fertilisation in 1982 to 1984, chaired by Mary Warnock, which led to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. He was appointed as a High Court judge in 1988 (and was styled Mr Justice Scott Baker), receiving 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 Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, and allocated to the Family Division. He moved to 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 ...

in 1993. He was Presiding Judge of the Wales and Chester Circuit from 1991 to 1995, and a member of the

Parole Board A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdiction ...

from 1999 to 2002. He was the Lead Judge of the

Administrative Court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered se ...

from 2000 to 2002. In 1999, he presided over the trial of Great Western Trains following the

Southall rail crash The Southall rail crash occurred on 19 September 1997, on the Great Western Main Line at Southall, West London. An InterCity 125 high speed passenger train (HST) failed to slow down in response to warning signals and collided with a freight trai ...

in 1997. He dismissed charges of corporate manslaughter, as there was no identifiable individual in the company who was also guilty of gross negligence, but levied a then-record fine for

health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at ...

offences of £1.5m. His judgment was upheld on appeal. The same year, Baker presided at the trial of

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving un ...

on charges of

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

following the collapse of Aitken's

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

suit against ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. Baker was promoted in 2002, becoming a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

. He was Treasurer of his Inn of Court, the Middle Temple, in 2004. He sat as coroner for the

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a co ...

s into the deaths of Princess Diana and

Dodi Fayed Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed (; arz, عماد الدين محمد عبد المنعم الفايد, ʿImād ed-Dīn Muḥammad ʿAbd el-Munʿim el-Fāyid , 17 April 1955 – 31 August 1997), better known as Dodi Fayed ( ar, دودى ...

from 2 October 2007 to 7 April 2008. In March 2011, Baker was sworn in as a Justice of the

Court of Appeal of Bermuda The law of Bermuda is based on the common law legal system of England and Wales. Sources of Law * The law of England and Wales as it stood in 1620 - of all kinds: common law, equity and statute - became the law of Bermuda at that time, and it rema ...

, a position that he held until 2018.

Notable Cases

* St Albans City and DC v International Computers Ltd (1994) - Baker delivered the first instance judgment regarding unfair contract terms and liability limitation in business to business contracts, whilst a portion of the case was overturned on appeal, the ratio and obiter delivered by Baker remains leading law in the area of sale of goods and limitation. *

R v Great Western Trains Co (1999) (Unreported) R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...

- Baker dismissed the case against Great Western, holding that it was a condition precedent for a guilty mind to be proven before charges of gross negligence manslaughter could be made out. The judgment was referred by the Attorney General to the Court of Appeal in Attorney General’s Reference No 2 of 1999. 000EWCA Crim 91

References

Sources

The Court of Appeal - Judges
from

HM Court Service Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales. It was created by the amalgamation of the Magi ...

Biography
from

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and doctor ...

School of Law
Announcement of appointment of new Deputy Coroner
Judicial Communications Office, 24 April 2007
Official Archived website of the Inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi FayedThe Royal Gazette: New Court of Appeal judge sworn in
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Scott 1937 births English King's Counsel 21st-century English judges People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Family Division judges Queen's Bench Division judges Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Knights Bachelor Living people Lords Justices of Appeal 20th-century King's Counsel People from Chorleywood Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 20th-century English judges Bermudian judges