Richard Macrory

Last updated
Richard Macrory Richard Macrory.jpg
Richard Macrory

Richard Brabazon Macrory, CBE, Hon KC (born 30 March 1950) is a British barrister who is emeritus professor of environmental law at University College London. He is one of the leading environmental lawyers of his generation, and has had a significance influence of the development of British environmental law and policy.

Contents

Macrory served as a board member of the Environment Agency England and Wales between 1999 and 2004, and was a long-standing member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Environmental Law. In 2006, Macrory led the Cabinet Office Review on Regulatory Sanctions and his recommendations led to profound changes in the design and enforcement of sanctions in England and Wales. Macrory was the first chair of the UK Environmental Law Association.

Macrory is an Emeritus Professor with the Faculty of Laws, University College, London and a Research Fellow at Linacre College, Oxford.

He is the author of several books on environmental law including Regulation Enforcement and Governance in Environmental Law (2nd edition 2014) and Irresolute Clay – Shaping the Foundations of Modern Environmental Law (2020), and over 150 articles on various aspects of environmental law.

Early life and personal

Macrory was born in Headley, Surrey on 30 March 1950. [1] He was educated at Westminster School, and read jurisprudence at Christ Church, Oxford, obtaining a BA in 1971 (MA 1976). [2]

He was called to the Bar in 1974. [3]

Between 1975 and 1978, Macrory was the in-house lawyer at Friends of the Earth Ltd in London, and was heavily involved in the Windscale inquiry on nuclear reprocessing, [4] then the longest planning inquiry seen in this country. [5]

Macrory is married with two adult sons. [6] He has British and Irish citizenship. [7]

Academic career

Macrory began his academic career at Imperial College of Science and Technology based at the newly established Centre for Environmental Technology. [8] He was a lecturer between 1980–1989, Reader 1989-1991, and in 1991 was promoted the first Professor Environmental Law in the United Kingdom. [9] [10] Between 1994 and 1995 he was Director of the Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford, [11] [12] and between 1991 and 1994 the Denton Hall Professor of Environmental Law, Imperial College. [13]

In 1999 he was appointed Professor of Environmental Law at the Faculty of Laws, University College, London. [14] In 2001 he established the Centre for Law and the Environment within the Faculty to provide a focal point for the Faculty's developing strength in teaching and research in environmental law. [15] In 2007 set up and became director of the UCL Carbon Capture Legal Programme, [16] a five year programme designed to explore and provide information on legal developments, nationally and internationally, in carbon capture and storage. [17] Between 2010 and 2014 he directed a major research programme, funded by the UK Space Energy, Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Economic and Social Research Council, on the potential of using earth observation technologies as an enforcement tool in environmental law. [18] On retirement in 2017, he was appointed an Emeritus Professor at UCL. [19]

Bar practice

Between 1989 and 1990 he was a member of European Law Chambers, London, and between 1991 and 2021 he was a door tenant at Brick Court Chambers. [20] Most of his practice involved providing advice or written opinions, but he was junior counsel in a number of significant British environmental cases:

R v Environment Agency ex parte Dockgrange [1997) Env. LR 415 (High Court, transhipment of waste) [21] British Waterways Board v Severn Trent (2001) 3 WLR 613 (Court of Appeal, water law) R ex parte National Grid Gas v Environment Agency (2007) UKHL 30 (House of Lords, contaminated land) [22]

In 2019, Chambers ranked him as a Senior Statesperson in environmental law. [23]

In 2010 he was elected a Master of the Bench, Grays Inn. [24]

UK Environmental Law Association

Between 1989 and 1992. Macrory was the first chair of the UK Environmental Law Association. In 2007 he was made a Patron of the Association, [25] and in 2016-2018 he was co-chair of the UKELA Brexit Working Party. UKELA was neutral on the Brexit Referendum, and the Working Party produced a series of reports exploring legal implications arising from Brexit for various aspects of environmental law. [26] In 2024 he gave UKELA's annual Garner lecture, entitled 'Confessions of a Tunneler - Lawyers and the Environment' [27]

Journal of Environmental Law

In 1988 Macrory was the founding editor of the Journal of Environmental Law, and remained editor in chief until 1992. [28] He was then a member of the Editorial Board until 2025. [29] In 2014 Oxford University Press established the annual Macrory prize for the most thought-provoking and innovative article published in the Journal each year. [30]

External appointments

Between 1991 and 2003 Macrory was the sole legal member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.[ citation needed ] During his term of office, eight Reports were published: Water 1992), Waste Incineration (1993), Transport (1994), Soil (1996), Transport Developments since 1994 (1997), Environmental Standards (1998), Energy (2000)), Environmental Planning (2002). [31] During his membership, he was elected chair of the Steering Committee of the network of European Environmental Advisory Councils 2001-2003. [32]

He was a Board Member of the Environment Agency England and Wales 1999-2004. [33] He was a specialist advisor in environmental law to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment on six inquiries between 1989 and 1992 [34] and subsequently a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Environment, Transport, and the Regions on its inquiries into consumer products. [35] Between 1991 and 1992 he was a specialist advisor to the Specialist Advisor, House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities (Environment Sub-committee) during their inquiry into enforcement and implementation of EC legislation. [36]

Macrory was the Hon President of the National Society for Clean Air between 2004 and 2005, and was Standing Counsel to the Council for the Protection of Rural England for eleven years between 1981-1992. [37] He was the Legal Correspondent to ENDS Report between 1986 and 2019. [38] Between 2007 and 2008 he was a member of the Sullivan Working Group on Access to Environmental Justice. [39] Between 1990 and 1991 he was a member of the UK National Advisory Committee on Eco-labelling (chair of the Sub-Committee on Administration.

Between 2021 and 2025, Macrory was a board member of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Following Brexit, OEP was established as an independent body to hold government and other public bodies to account for implementation and enforcement of environmental law, one of a handful of such bodies in the world. [40]

Regulatory sanctions

In 2002, Macrory was commissioned by the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs to study the possible introduction of civil penalties for breaches of environmental law.

[41] At the time, the only sanctions available to regulators such as the Environment Agency for breaches of most environmental laws was a criminal sanction or, where the breach was not considered serious, a caution or warning, or other informal approaches. [42] The report argued that in addition to these existing sanctions, environmental regulators should also be able to impose civil penalties of the sort widely used in Germany and the United States. [43]

In 2005, Macrory was commissioned by the Cabinet Office to lead a review on regulatory sanctions generally, covering some 60 national regulators as well as local authorities and dealing with nearly all areas of regulation apart from the financial sector. [44] The Review [45] concluded that the criminal law, while remaining important for the most serious breaches, was being overused and devalued. [46] The Review advocated six principles that should underline an effective sanctioning system, and now officially referred to as the Macrory Principles. [47] It recommended that regulators had access to a much richer range of regulatory responses, including civil sanctions. Macrory also identified seven characteristics that a regulator with access to a wide range of sanctioning powers should adopt. [48] These including acting transparently and avoiding perverse incentives (such as internal targets or financial rewards for success) which might distort choices. Some of these such as the need to publish an enforcement policy are now legal requirements. [49]

The Government accepted all the recommendations in the Macrory report, and Part III Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 provides the legal framework for a range of new sanctions, based on the Review. [50] Many regulators acquired the new powers, including the Environment Agency and Natural England in 2010. [51] One of Macrory's proposals, now contained in s 50 Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act, was a new form of sanction, an Enforcement Undertaking. [52] Instead of a penalty being imposed by the regulator, a regulator may accept an undertaking from a company or person to take steps to prevent repetition of the breach, and to provide a voluntary donation to a charity or similar body to reflect any economic gain or damage caused by non-compliance. [53] Enforcement Undertakings are published and are especially suitable where the breach is non-intentional or careless at the most. [54] The Environment Agency has made extensive use of Enforcement Undertakings, and between 2022 and 2023 accepted 62 Undertakings since 2010 resulting in over £23 million being paid to environmental charities and similar bodies up until 2022. [55]

In 2024 it was revealed during the Horizon inquiry into the Post Office scandal that the Post Office awarded staff with bonuses for successful prosecutions against sub-postmasters. [56] Professor Macrory criticized this as being contrary to his recommendations in his Report. [57]

Honours

He was awarded a CBE in 2000 for services to environment and the law. In 2004 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, and in 2007 nominated a Patron of the UK Environmental Law Association. [58] In 2008 he was appointed a QC Hon Causa for making a major contribution to law outside the courtroom. Described as “the world’s most prestigious award in the field of environmental law” [59] he was awarded the Elizabeth Haub Prize for Environmental Law in 2014. [60]

Film and creative

Macrory had a long association with Merchant Ivory Film Productions. He was a production assistant of Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (1972), assistant to the producer on Autobiography of a Princess (1972), and assistant to the Art Director on The Wild Party (1975). [61] He appeared as an extra in a number of Merchant Ivory films, including Howards Ends (1992), (uncredited), The Golden Bowl (2000), The Mystic Masseur (2001) and The White Countess (2005). [62] Between 1988 and 2004 he was chairman of Merchant Ivory Productions Ltd. [63]

Macrory and a former schoolfriend Nick Young (1969-1981) invented a board game called Man-Eater! which was published in 1976 and involved four swimmers fleeing from a shark. [64] The Guardian described it as "extremely good as games go – cerebral rather than based on chance and very simple to learn". [65] The Financial Times reported that according to the specialist London board games shop, Just Games, it was the new game of the year. [66] Because the swimmers had detachable legs which could be eaten by the shark, Robin Young in the Times said that Man-eater 'easily carries away the title of Worst Taste Game of the Year'. [67] Production ceased in the early 1980s. In 2013, the American games expert, Erik Arneson, listed it as no 6 in his Top 10 Games to Play Before You Die. [68]

Macrory’s great great uncle was Eldred Pottinger. [69] Pottinger survived the retreat and destruction of the British army in January 1842 during the First Afghan War, and his father was author of a definitive history of the War, Signal Catastrophe, published in 1966. [70] Richard Macrory's own interest in the period led him to write a study of the Afghan War published by Osprey 2016 in its Military History Series under the title, The First Afghan War – Invasion, Catastrophe and Retreat. [71] [72]

Richard Macrory is an amateur magician performing under the name The Great Marco. Amongst other venues he has appeared twice at the Stendhal Music Festival, Northern Ireland, Fiera dell' Aglio e delle Capoli 2022, Borga a Mozzano, Tuscany, [73] and Yarnton Manor, Oxford [74]

Selected bibliography

Books

Articles, chapters in books, and reports

References

  1. ↑ General Registry Office of England and Wales. Register of Births Vol 5g 1037. retrieved 2025-7-21
  2. ↑ Christ Church Members Register. Retrieved 25-07-21
  3. ↑ Christ Church Members Register. Retrieved 25-07-20
  4. ↑ Macrory, Richard (2020). Irresolute Clay. Hart Publishing. pp. Chap 2 pp. 15–23. doi:10.5040/9781509928149. ISBN   978-1-5099-2811-8.
  5. ↑ Parker RJ. The Windscale Inquiry Report by the Hon. Mr Justice Parker presented to the Secretary of State on 26 January 1978. https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:9383981 Retrieved 24/08/16
  6. ↑ Who's Who (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U26221. Retrieved 25-07-20
  7. ↑ Who's Who (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U26221. Retrieved 25-06-20
  8. ↑ Milne, Roger (1992-05-30). "From green to academe: Richard Macrory, a former campaigner with Friends of the Earth, has become Britain's first professor of environmental law. Is this a natural progression or a clever change of tack?". New Scientist . Archived from the original on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  9. ↑ Ince, Martin (1992-03-20). "Digging dirt in the back yard". The Times Higher Education Supplement . No. 1011. p. 48. ProQuest   2348067768.
  10. ↑ Milne, Roger (1992-05-30). "From green to academe: Richard Macrory, a former campaigner with Friends of the Earth, has become Britain's first professor of environmental law. Is this a natural progression or a clever change of tack?". New Scientist . Archived from the original on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  11. ↑ ^ “Campaign boosted by new appointments”. Oxford University Gazette. Vol 125. No 4336 p 1. (1994-09-22) Oxford University Gazette Index to Vol 125 Retrieved 2024-06-15
  12. ↑ "Richard Macrory". Baker & Taylor Author Biographies. Baker & Taylor. 2000-01-02. EBSCOhost   49278432.
  13. ↑ Who's Who (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U26221. Retrieved 25-07-20
  14. ↑ Tyler, Richard (2006-05-30). "The HSE is accused of over-the-top action on company's safety record". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  15. ↑ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/law-environment/ucl-centre-law-and-environment Retrieved 2024-07-15
  16. ↑ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2007/oct/ucl-launches-carbon-capture-and-storage-legal-initiative. Retrieved 2024-06-15
  17. ↑ https://sciencebusiness.net/news/69324/UCL-wins-grant-for-programme-on-legal-aspects-of-carbon-capture. retrieved 24-7-22
  18. ↑ https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/law-environment/category/satellites-and-the-law Retrieved. 2024-06-15
  19. ↑ "Emeritus Professors". 17 November 2022.
  20. ↑ Who's Who (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U26221. Retrieved 25-07-20
  21. ↑ 'Is Franz Kafka Alive and Well and Working for the Environment Agency? Transfrontier Waste Shipments and Proportionality' Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 10, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 146–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/10.1.146. Retrieved 25-7-22
  22. ↑ Justine Thornton 'UK Law—Significant Environmental Cases 2007–08' Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 20, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 293–321, https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqn015
  23. ↑ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/news/2018/nov/professor-richard-macrory-ranked-senior-statesperson-chambers-uk-and-uk-bar-guide-2019 retrieved February 2024 Retrieved. 2024.07.16
  24. ↑ https://www.graysinn.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/07/20250717_Masters-of-the-Bench.pdf. retrieved 25-07.22
  25. ↑ https://www.ukela.org/UKELA/About-Us/People.aspx?WebsiteKey=fc155a49-8c72-41be-9d39-0ee9d6c5ca9f&hkey=24b6562f-4afe-4fe0-a45b-7ad72a9d1374&ecff56fa100a=3#ecff56fa100a Retrieved 2024.07.16
  26. ↑ https://www.ukela.org/UKELA/UKELA/ReadingRoom/Brexit/UKELAsworkonbrexit.aspx Retrieved 2024.07.16
  27. ↑ https://www.ukela.org/UKELA/UKELA/Events/Garner-Lecture.aspx. retrieved 2025.07.02
  28. ↑ https://academic.oup.com/jel/pages/Editorial_Board?login=false. retrieved 25-07-22
  29. ↑ https://academic.oup.com/jel/issue/37/1. retrieved 25-07-22
  30. ↑ "Richard Macrory prize".
  31. ↑ The National Archives. CY1 Royal Commission on Enviornmental Polluition Reports. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C5722. retrieved 25-07-22
  32. ↑ https://eeac.eu/ Retrieved 2024.07.16
  33. ↑ Who's Who (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U26221. Retrieved 25-07-22
  34. ↑ Contaminated Land HC Session 1989-90 First Report; European Community Environmental Policy HC Session 1989-90 Second Report; Pollution of Beaches HC Session 1989-90 Fourth Report; EC draft landfill directive HC Session 1990-91 Seventh Report; 1st report: Environmental issues in Northern Ireland HC Session 1990-91 Seventh Report; Eco-labelling HC Session 1990-91 Eighth Report; The Government's Proposals for an Environment Agency HC Session 1991-92, First Report 551-III
  35. ↑ 'Reducing the Environmental Impact of Consumer Products' Eleventh Report Session 1998-99. HC 191-I
  36. ↑ 'Enforcement and Implementation of EC Legislation' Ninth Report of House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities (Environment Sub-committee) Session 1991-92. HL Paper 53-I
  37. ↑ Dictionary of International Biography (32nd ed.). Ely, Cambridgeshire, England: International Biographical Centre. 2006. ISBN   1903986-19-2.
  38. ↑ Macrory, Richard (2010). Regulation, Enforcement and Governance in Environmental Law (2nd ed.). Oxford: Harts. pp. Part IV The Courts and the Environment pp 439–544. ISBN   978-1-84946-035-4.
  39. ↑ https://unece.org/DAM/env/pp/compliance/C2008-33/correspondence/FrCAJE_updatedSullivanReport_2010.09.14.pdf Retrieved 2024.08.16
  40. ↑ Macrory R (2024) “ Innovations in Environmental Governance: The Significance of the British Office for Environmental Protection”. Environmental Policy and Law 54 (2024) 189–200 189 DOI 10.3233/EPL-239031. Retrieved 2024.06.15
  41. ↑ MACRORY and WOODS (2003) Environmental Civil Penalties – A More Proportionate Response to Regulatory Breach Centre for Law and the Environment, University College, London
  42. ↑ Abbott, Carolyn (2009). Enforcing Pollution Control Regulation. Oxford, England: Hart Publishing. pp. 112–118. ISBN   978-1-84113-925-8.
  43. ↑ Environment and Climate Change Laws and Regulations : Germany Report 2025, International Comparative Legal Guide https://iclg.com/practice-areas/environment-and-climate-change-laws-and-regulations/germany. retrieved 25-06-22; United States Environment Protection Agency Enforcement https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/basic-information-enforcement retrieved 25-06-22
  44. ↑ https://hrcentre.uk.brightmine.com/commentary-and-insights/sanctioning-change-macrory-widens-the-regulatory-toolbox/73174/. Retrieved 25-7-28
  45. ↑ Regulatory Justice : Making Sanctions Effective Final Report, Macrory Review, 2006 Cabinet Office, London. https://www.regulation.org.uk/library/2006_macrory_report.pdf retrieved 2024.09.16
  46. ↑ Richard Burnett-Hall; Brian Hall (2009). Burnett-Hall on Environmental Law (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sweet and Maxwell. pp. 97–99. ISBN   9780421748101.
  47. ↑ Dept of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2023) Consultation on Strengthening Environmental Civil Sanctions. Para 1.3https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water-industry/environmental-civil-sanctions-consultation/supporting_documents/VMP%20Consultation%20Documentv9apostWRCLEAN%202.pdf
  48. ↑ National Audit Office (2007) Hampton Implementation Reviews - Guidance for Review Teams. p 1 https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/HIR_Guidance.pdf. Retrieved 25-07-28
  49. ↑ Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 s 64
  50. ↑ Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008. Explanatory Notes para 3 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/13/notes/division/1/1. Retrieved 25-07-28
  51. ↑ The Environmental Civil Sanction Order (England) 2010
  52. ↑ Julie Norris; Jeremy Phillips (2011). The Law of Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 148. ISBN   978-0-19-959320-0.
  53. ↑ Environment Agency (2025) RES Act – the Environment Agency's approach to applying civil sanctions and accepting enforcement undertakings. Para 3.3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-enforcement-and-sanctions-policy/annex-1-res-act-the-environment-agencys-approach-to-applying-civil-sanctions-and-accepting-enforcement-undertakings
  54. ↑ Environment Agency (2025) RES Act – the Environment Agency's approach to applying civil sanctions and accepting enforcement undertakings. Para 3.1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-enforcement-and-sanctions-policy/annex-1-res-act-the-environment-agencys-approach-to-applying-civil-sanctions-and-accepting-enforcement-undertakings
  55. ↑ https://www.endsreport.com/article/1528635/ends-40-story-so-far Retrieved 2024.08.16
  56. ↑ The Independent 'Post Office investigators were given bonuses for every Horizon conviction'. 11 Jan 2024 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/post-office-horizon-investigators-bonuses-b2476869.html. Retrieved 25-07-28
  57. ↑ Letter in the Times January 15, 2024
  58. ↑ https://www.ukela.org/UKELA/UKELA/About-Us/Patrons.aspx. Retrieved 25-07-28
  59. ↑ "Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy | Award Information".
  60. ↑ Environmental Policy and Law Amsterdam Vol. 45, Iss. 6, (Dec 2015): 273-275.
  61. ↑ Richard Macrory IMDB https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534350/. Retrieved 25-07-28
  62. ↑ (Uncredited)
  63. ↑ Ivory, James (1993-07-07). "Obituary: Sir Patrick Macrory". The Independent . Archived from the original on 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  64. ↑ "Man-Eater!". Games & Puzzles . 1978. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-04-28– via Google Books.
  65. ↑ Tim Albert ‘Tooth and Consequences’. The Guardian November 1, 1976
  66. ↑ 'Only six more shopping days to go’. How to Spend It. Financial Times December 18, 1976
  67. ↑ Robin Young Shopping The Times. December 14, 1976
  68. ↑ https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/erik-arneson-409240 Retrieved 2024/09/12
  69. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldred_Pottinger retrieved 2024.09.16
  70. ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/31936581 retrieved. 2024.09.16
  71. ↑ https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/first-afghan-war-183942-9781472813978/ retrieved 2024.09.16
  72. ↑ https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/osprey-blog/2021/the-first-afghan-war-1839-42/. Retrieved 2024.09.16
  73. ↑ https://www.cosafareintoscana.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/eventi-toscana-giovedi-8-settembre.jpg. Retrieved 25-07-28
  74. ↑ https://yarntonmanor.org/index.php/our-history/. Retrieved 25-07-28
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.