Thomas Sargant (1905–1988) was a British law reformer who campaigned for the promotion of human rights.
Sargant, who was educated at Highgate School, was for much of his life a businessman and politician who became increasingly concerned with the impact of the law and legal services upon ordinary people. In the mid-1950s, he was asked to help mobilise lawyers in support of those accused in treason trials in Hungary and South Africa, and JUSTICE was set up as a result. Tom Sargant became its first Secretary and was a driving force of the organisation until his retirement in 1982.
As a result of his commitment, persistence and determination, JUSTICE played a key role in taking up the cause of miscarriage of justice cases. Sargant's tireless campaigning resulted in some 25 people being released, or released early, from prison. He was instrumental in the establishment of the BBC series Rough Justice, which led to the release of 18 victims of miscarriages of justice.
He also played a major role in bringing about other key measures such as the creation of the office of Ombudsman and the establishment of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. In 1966 he was awarded an OBE and became a JP. He was made Honorary Master of Laws at Queen's University Belfast in 1977.
In 1989 the first Thomas Sargant Memorial Lecture was given in his memory and has been given every year since. The lectures are organised by JUSTICE.
Tom Sargant's daughter was the educationalist Naomi Sargant (1933–2006).
He is buried in a family grave on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking cultures. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including "suspension of disbelief". He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism.
Felix Frankfurter was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judicial restraint in its judgements.
Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 2.3% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent. The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill,, was an eminent British judge who was successively Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. He was described as the greatest lawyer of his generation. Baroness Hale of Richmond observed that his pioneering role in the formation of the United Kingdom Supreme Court may be his most important and long-lasting legacy. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers regarded Bingham as "one of the two great legal figures of my lifetime in the law". David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead described Bingham as "the greatest jurist of our time".
Richard Westwood Worth was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He was the Member of Parliament for Epsom from 1999 to 2005 and a list MP from 2005 to 2009.
A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent people have sometimes ended up in prison for years before their conviction has eventually been overturned. They may be exonerated if new evidence comes to light or it is determined that the police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial. In some jurisdictions this leads to the payment of compensation.
William Walters Sargant was a British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy.
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparatory School, Highgate junior school and the senior school (11+) – which together comprise the Highgate Foundation. As part of its wider work the charity was from 2010 a founding partner of the London Academy of Excellence and it is now also the principal education sponsor of an associated Academy, the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, which opened in September 2017. The principal business sponsor is Tottenham Hotspur FC. The charity also funds the Chrysalis Partnership, a scheme supporting 26 state schools in six London boroughs.
Sir John Cecil Masterman OBE was a noted academic, sportsman and author. His highest-profile role was as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, but he was also well known as chairman of the Twenty Committee, which during the Second World War ran the Double-Cross System, controlling double agents in Britain.
JUSTICE is a human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, the international human rights organisation of lawyers devoted to the legal protection of human rights worldwide. Consequently, members of JUSTICE are predominantly barristers and solicitors, judges, legal academics, and law students.
Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron AnnanOBE was a British military intelligence officer, author, and academic. During his military career, he rose to the rank of colonel and was appointed to the Order of the British Empire as an Officer (OBE). He was provost of King's College, Cambridge, 1956–66, provost of University College London, 1966–78, vice-chancellor of the University of London, and a member of the House of Lords.
Sir Roger Cholmeley was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench from 1552 to 1553. From 1535 to 1545 he was Recorder of London and served in the House of Commons. He is possibly best remembered for his endowment to found a free grammar school, Highgate School, at London.
Don Hale OBE is a British author and journalist known for his investigative work and campaigning against miscarriage of justice in specific legal cases.
Robert Lionel Archibald Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, was an English barrister and judge who was Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, the equivalent of today's President of the Supreme Court. Best known for establishing unjust enrichment as a branch of English law, he has been described by Andrew Burrows as "the greatest judge of modern times". Goff was the original co-author of Goff & Jones, the leading English law textbook on restitution and unjust enrichment, first published in 1966. He practised as a commercial barrister from 1951 to 1975, following which he began his career as a judge. He was appointed to the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in 1986.
Sir Richard Arthur Blackburn, was an Australian judge, prominent legal academic and military officer. He became a judge of three courts in Australia, and eventually became chief justice of the Australian Capital Territory. In the 1970s he decided one of Australia's earliest Aboriginal Land rights cases. His service to the Australian legal community is commemorated by the annual Sir Richard Blackburn Memorial lectures in Canberra.
Sir David Napley was an English solicitor.
Thomas Dale was a British priest in the Church of England who was the Dean of Rochester for a brief period in 1870. He was also a poet and theologian.
Thomas Parry Jones OBE was a Welsh scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, who was responsible for developing and marketing the first handheld electronic breathalyser, winning the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in 1980 for the work. Born and raised on Anglesey, he attended Bangor University and went on to study for his doctorate at University of Alberta, Canada. Prior to his work on the breathalyser at Lion Laboratories, he was a lecturer at the Royal Military College of Science and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. He established the Dr Tom Parry Jones Endowment Fund at Bangor University in 2002. After selling Lion Laboratories in 2005, he set up PPM Technology and Welsh Dragon Aviation. A trust was set up in his, and his wife's, names. The Tom and Raj Jones Trust promotes work by young entrepreneurs.
Sir Charles Henry Sargant was a British judge who served as Lord Justice of Appeal from 1923 to 1928.
Dame Geraldine Maitland Aves, DBE was a British civil servant, United Nations advisor on welfare, and social reformer.