John Anson Brightman, Baron Brightman, PC (20 June 1911 – 6 February 2006) was a British barrister and judge who served as a

law lord Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

between 1982 and 1988.

Early life and career

Brightman was born in Sandridge,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, the son of William Henry Brightman, a solicitor, and of Minnie Boston Brightman, ''née'' Way. He was educated at Doon House School in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

, and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he read law. He was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1932. He then joined the chambers of Fergus Morton, later a law lord, and practised at the Chancery bar. During World War II, he volunteered as an

able seaman An able seaman (AB) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination ...

in the Merchant Navy from 1939 to 1940, then was commissioned into the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

, serving on convoy in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In 1944, he attended the Royal Naval staff course at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, and was promoted to lieutenant commander to become assistant naval attaché in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

. He returned to the bar in 1946, mainly practising trusts and taxation law, and took silk in 1961. He was appointed Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster, but relinquished the post on his appointment to the bench in 1970. While at the bar, Brightman was pupil master to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, who was his first female pupil.

Judicial career

Brightman was appointed a High Court judge in 1970 and assigned to the

Chancery Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

, receiving the customary knighthood. In 1971, he joined John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson and Lord Thomson as the three judges of the National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC), set up by the government of

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

to reign in the power of the

trades union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s. In 1972, he decided that

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

and

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he became the first player to score a Hat-trick#Association football, hat-trick in a ...

need not pay

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

on bonuses and cash gifts received following the victory of the England football team in the 1966 World Cup. In 1974, while still a High Court judge, he refused Anton Piller KG the

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

that it requested to search the premises of a defendant to prevent the defendant from destroying potential evidence. He was overruled by

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson Denning, Baron Denning, (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999), was an English barrister and judge. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when he w ...

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

, giving rise to the

Anton Piller order In English and English-derived legal systems, an Anton Piller order (frequently misspelled ''Anton Pillar order'') is a court order that provides the right to search premises and seize evidence without prior warning. This is intended to prevent t ...

that remains in use today. Like his colleague on the NIRC, John Donaldson, Brightman had to wait until shortly after Thatcher won the 1979 general election in 1979 to be appointed as

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

. Brightman became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

, sitting in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as Baron Brightman, ''of Ibthorpe in the County of Hampshire'', from 12 March 1982, the same year that Donaldson was promoted to become

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

. One of Brightman's first judgments, in 1983, was to decide that Ann Mallalieu (later Baroness Mallalieu) was not entitled to a tax deduction for the cost of her court dress. He also ruled against the taxpayer in the case of '' Furniss v. Dawson''; upheld the

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

verdict in ''R v Hancock and Shankland'', the case of a taxi driver killed during the 1984 miners' strike, modifying the test of intent required for a conviction of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

; and joined the majority judgment that refused to grant the government an order banning on newspaper articles about '' Spycatcher'' in 1988.

Personal life

He married Roxane Ambatielo in 1945 and they had one son.

References

Obituary
(''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', 8 February 2006)
Announcement of his death at the House of Lords
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 8 February 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brightman, John Anson, Baron Brightman 1911 births 2006 deaths Law lords Knights Bachelor English barristers Members of Lincoln's Inn Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Marlborough College Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Chancery Division judges Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Attorneys-general of the Duchy of Lancaster British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II Lord justices of appeal 20th-century English lawyers