Nationality United Kingdom Role Judge Name Frederick Lawton | Known for Lord Justice of Appeal Occupation Barrister and Judge Died February 3, 2001 | |
Full Name Frederick Horace Lawton Born 21 December 1911 ( 1911-12-21 ) | ||
Sir Frederick Horace Lawton PC (21 December 1911 – 3 February 2001) was a British judge who sat in the Court of Appeal.
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Early life
Lawton was born in Wandsworth, London. His father was governor of Wandsworth Prison. He was educated at Battersea Grammar School and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
In the 1930s he converted to Roman Catholicism, which became an important part of his life.
In 1936 he was adopted as the British Union of Fascists' candidate for Hammersmith North, but there was no election before the Second World War. He served briefly in the war in the London Irish Rifles but was invalidated out due to a training accident in 1941. The war ended his association with the far right, and he later joined the Conservative Party.
Legal career
He was called to the Bar as a member of Inner Temple in 1935. He took Silk in 1957, and was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, in 1961. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1972 (when he also became a member of the Privy Council), and retired in 1986.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher served her period of pupillage at the English bar under Sir Frederick when he was still a junior barrister.
Family
Sir Frederick married in 1957, to Doreen Wilton, she predeceased him, dying in 1979, they had two sons.
Public comments
Sir Frederick made a number of comments during his judicial career which attracted scrutiny.
In 1957 he told Charlie Richardson from the bench, after sentencing him to serve 25 years at the end of the "Torture Trial", "One is ashamed to live in a society that contains men like you."
He also once controversially remarked that "Wife beating may be socially acceptable in Sheffield, but it is a different matter in Cheltenham."
In 1981 when a demonstration for nuclear disarmament got out of hand he remarked that "a good South Devon bull might work wonders" (the demonstrations took place in Cornwall in the West Country).
In 1987 after he retired he complained of the difficulty prosecuting "the gyppos and tinkers who invade a farmer's land".
Cases
During this time as a criminal judge, Lawton presided over the trial of the Richardson gang from south London, and the second trial of the Kray brothers.
In the Court of Appeal his reported decisions included:
Lawton was also involved in the early appeals of the Guildford Four.