Sir James William Miskin QC (11 March 1925 –21 November 1993) was a British barrister and judge. He served as Recorder of London,the senior judge at the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey,from 1975 to 1990. [1]
James William Miskin was born in Hong Kong on 11 March 1925,the son of Geoffrey Miskin,general manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. Returning to England,he was educated at Haileybury School in Hertfordshire. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve between 1943 and 1946,before going to Brasenose College,Oxford,graduating in 1949. [2]
In 1951 he married Mollie Joan Milne,they having two sons and two daughters. The couple later divorced,and in 1980 Miskin married Sheila Joan Collett. [3]
Miskin was called to bar in 1951 and developed a common law practice,principally in family and medical negligence work,being appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1967. [1] In 1971 he succeeded Desmond Ackner as counsel for the victims of the thalidomide drug in their long-running action against Distillers,finally settled out of court. [2] A member of the Inner Temple,Miskin served as a member of the Bar Council 1964–67 and 1970–73,was leader of South East Circuit 1974–75 and became a Bencher in 1976. [3]
Although his practice was mainly civil,as his career progressed he held a number part-time judicial appointments in the criminal courts,including Deputy Chairman of the Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions 1968–71 and Recorder of the Crown Court 1972–75. In addition,between 1972–75,he acted as chairman of the London School of Economics board of discipline and was Appeals Steward of the British Boxing Board of Control. [3]
In 1975 Miskin was appointed Recorder of London,the senior judge at the Central Criminal Court,Old Bailey,a post that tries many of England's most serious criminal cases. As second citizen of the City of London after the Lord Mayor,the role also involves a number of ceremonial and administrative functions. [2]
In his first years as Recorder,Miskin was generally well thought of as a judge,being seen as fair minded as well as courteous,kind and helpful to advocates. [4] He was often outspoken,expressing views on justice issues including prison funding,raising the minimum age for jurors and re-introduction of capital punishment for premeditated murder. However,as ill-health overtook him in his later years as a judge,his personality and judicial performance deteriorated. [2] His sentencing became more erratic and he publicly used ethnic slurs including,at a Mansion House dinner,referring to 'nig-nogs' and 'murderous Sikhs'. Shortly before his retirement,he cast doubt upon the innocence of the Guildford four after their conviction was quashed. [4] This behaviour was subsequently attributed to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease. [2]
Miskin retired in 1990,and died at his home in Horsham,Sussex on 21 November 1993 aged 68 [1] from Alzheimer's disease. [4]
For many years Miskin was a lieutenant of the City of London [5] and was knighted in the 1983 Birthday Honours list. [6]
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales,commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands,is a criminal court building in central London,one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The street outside follows the route of the ancient wall around the City of London,which was part of the fortification's bailey,hence the metonymic name.
Robert Michael Oldfield Havers,Baron Havers,was a British barrister and Conservative politician. He was knighted in 1972 and appointed a life peer in 1987.
Dame Rose Heilbron DBE,QC was a British barrister who served as a High Court judge. Her career included many "firsts" for a woman –she was the first woman to achieve a first class honours degree in law at the University of Liverpool,the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray's Inn,one of the first two women to be appointed King's Counsel in England,the first woman to lead in a murder case,the first woman recorder,the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey,and the first woman treasurer of Gray's Inn. She was also the second woman to be appointed a High Court judge,after Elizabeth Lane.
Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts was a British colonial official and judge. Joining the colonial civil service as a Crown Counsel in Nyasaland in 1953,he became Attorney General of Gibraltar in 1960. In 1962,he was posted to Hong Kong as Solicitor-General,and was successively promoted to Attorney-General in 1966,Colonial Secretary/Chief Secretary in 1973 and Chief Justice in 1979. He was the first and only Attorney-General to become both Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong. Never having been a judge before,he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1979 and was the first and only Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong to receive such appointment.
Gordon Slynn,Baron Slynn of Hadley was a British judge and Advocate General of the European Court of Justice. He particularly specialised in European law. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Sir Adrian Bruce Fulford is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal. From 2017 to 2019,he was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner,and was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal in 2019,succeeding Lady Justice Hallett.
The Recorder of London is an ancient legal office in the City of London. The Recorder of London is the senior circuit judge at the Central Criminal Court,hearing trials of criminal offences. The Recorder is appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the City of London Corporation with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor. The Recorder's deputy is the Common Serjeant of London,appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor. The Recorder of London is,since 14 April 2020,Mark Lucraft.
Sir Charles Hall was a British lawyer and politician.
The Common Serjeant of London is an ancient British legal office,first recorded in 1291,and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of London,acting as deputy to that office,and sitting as a judge in the trial of criminal offences.
Brian John Barker is a British retired judge. From February 2013 to January 2015 he served as the Recorder of London,the most senior judge at the Old Bailey. Prior to that he was the Common Serjeant of London,the second most senior judge at the Old Bailey.
Sir Anthony James Denys McCowan was a British barrister and judge of the High Court of Justice and Court of Appeal best known for trying the case of Clive Ponting in 1985. After studying at Epsom College he won a scholarship to study history at Brasenose College,Oxford,where he switched to law,and he was called to the Bar in 1951. After gaining a strong practice in criminal,property and personal injury law he was made a Queen's Counsel in 1972,and was appointed a judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in 1981. In 1989 he became a judge of the Court of Appeal,but only sat for eight years until ill health forced him to retire in 1997. He died on 3 July 2003.
Sir (James) Forrest Fulton was a British judge and Conservative politician.
Charles George James Burge,was an English criminal law barrister,remembered for his defence of Stephen Ward in the Profumo affair in 1963. He is also remembered as John Mortimer's original inspiration for the fictional barrister Horace Rumpole in Rumpole of the Bailey.
Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny,6th of Blairgowrie was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales,and the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan Macpherson. He was a common law barrister who served as the recorder of the Crown Court,a judge at the Queen's Bench,and the presiding judge of the Northern Circuit,before his retirement in 1996. In the late 1990s,Macpherson led the public inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. His report at the end of the enquiry in 1999 was considered groundbreaking and described as one of the most significant moments in the history of British criminal justice.
Sir Nicholas Richard Maybury Hilliard is a British judge who was the Recorder of London,an ancient and senior legal post at the Old Bailey,and before that Common Serjeant of London,the Recorder's second. He was appointed to that office in May 2013. From 6 January 2015 he was Recorder of London,the senior judge at the Old Bailey. In October 2019 it was announced that was to be appointed as a judge of the High Court of Justice. He took up that appointment on 19 November 2019 ceasing to be Recorder of London.
Francis Hamilton Mellor,known as Frank Mellor,was an English judge and a cricketer who played in first-class cricket matches for Cambridge University,Kent and the Marylebone Cricket Club between 1874 and 1878. He was born in Bloomsbury,London and died in Paris,France.
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Sir Edward Anthony Hawke was a British judge and the Common Serjeant of London from 1954 to 1959 and Recorder of London from 1959 to 1964.
Sir Alan Stewart Orr was a British barrister specialising in taxation who rose to be a High Court judge and a Lord Justice of Appeal. After 1958 he was known as Alan Orr QC,from 1965 as Mr Justice Orr,and from 1971 as Lord Justice Orr.
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