William Austin Nimmo Smith (6 November 1942) is a former

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice in Scotland are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court ...

, a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, sitting in the

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 C ...

and the

Inner House The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland; the Outer House forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. The chief justice is th ...

of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

. He retired from this position on 30 September 2009.

Early life

Nimmo Smith was educated as a

King's Scholar A King's Scholar, abbreviated KS in the United Kingdom, is the recipient of a scholarship from a foundation created by, or under the auspices of, a British monarch. The scholarships are awarded at certain Public school (United Kingdom), public ...

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, and studied

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Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(BA Hons 1965), and Law at the School of Law of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

( LL.B. 1967). He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1969.

Legal career

Nimmo Smith was appointed Standing Junior Counsel (legal advisor appointed by the

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

) to the

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in 1977, serving until 1982, at which time he took silk. From 1983 to 1986, he was an

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

, representing

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

in prosecutions and appeals in the High Court. From 1986 to 1991, he was Chairman of the Medical Appeal Tribunals and the Vaccine Damage Tribunals, and from 1988 to 1996 was a part-time member of the

Scottish Law Commission The Scottish Law Commission () is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It was established in 1965 to keep Scots law under review and recommend necessary reforms to improve, simplify and update the country's legal ...

Inquiries and reports

In 1993, he was appointed along with James Friel, Senior Procurator Fiscal of North Strathclyde, to conduct an investigation into allegations of corruption amongst a so-called ''Magic Circle'' in the Scottish justice system, comprising homosexual members of the judiciary, legal profession and police. The allegations included liability to blackmail and giving preferential treatment, including unusually lenient sentences, to homosexual criminals. Concerns had been raised by Linlithgow MP

Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Linlithgow (formerly West Lothian) from 1962 to 2005. A member of the Labour ...

with Lothian and Borders Chief Constable Sir William Sutherland. The ''Report on an Inquiry into an Allegation of a Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice in Scotland'' was presented to the House of Lords on 26 January 1993 by

Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, and found no evidence of the existence of such a ''Magic Circle'', but strongly criticised some police officers, who it said had treated rumours as fact or had been motivated by homophobia. In 1995 he was appointed by Michael Forsyth, the Secretary of State for Scotland, to conduct a local inquiry with the terms of reference: "To inquire into the question whether Monklands District Council have failed to comply with the duty imposed on them by section 7 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to make appointments to paid office or employment on merit, and to report thereon." After conducting the inquiry, which included the taking of evidence at hearings open to the public, he reported on 15 December 1995 that there was no evidence that any such appointment had been made otherwise than on merit. The Secretary of State so advised Parliament on 20 December 1995.

The Bench

Nimmo Smith was appointed a temporary judge of the

in 1995, and in 1996 was raised fully to the Bench as a

, a judge of the Court of Session and

, Scotland's Supreme Courts, with the judicial title, Lord Nimmo Smith. Whilst a judge of the

Outer House The Outer House (abbreviated as CSOH in neutral citations) is one of the two parts of the Scottish Court of Session, which is the supreme civil court in Scotland. It is a court of first instance, although some statutory appeals are remitted ...

of the Court of Session, he served as the Insolvency Judge from 1997 to 2005, and as one of the Intellectual Property Judges from 1998 to 2005. He also served as a member of the Lands Valuation Appeal Court from 2002 to 2009. In 2002, he was one of five judges who heard the appeal of

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi ( , ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. He was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Trip ...

, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, at the

Scottish Court in the Netherlands The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary set up under Scots law in a former United States Air Force base, Camp Zeist near Utrecht, in the Netherlands, for the trial of two Libyans charged wit ...

. He was promoted to the First Division of the Inner House in 2005, at which time he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, affording him the style, ''The Right Honourable''. As a judge of the Inner House he served as a member of the Registration Appeal Court from 2005 to 2009. He retired on 30 September 2009.

Personal life

Nimmo Smith married Jennifer Main in 1968, with whom he has a son and a daughter, the novelist Harriet Tyce. He was Chairman of the Council of the

Cockburn Association The Cockburn Association, often subtitled Edinburgh Civic Trust, is an architectural, conservation, and urban planning monitoring organisation in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. The Cockburn Association, founded in 1875, is one o ...

from 1996 to 2001, being succeeded in this position by fellow judge Lord Macfadyen.

References