Sir Arthur Evan James, PC, DL (18 May 1916 – 13 May 1976) was a British judge and was a member of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

from 1973 to his death.

Early life

James was educated at

Caterham School (Truth without Fear) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Protestant (United Reformed Church) , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

and then at Jesus College, Oxford where he obtained a double first in law followed, in 1939, by a BCL. He joined Middle Temple and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1939. He married in 1939 and had four children. He joined the army as a private in the Pioneer Corps before being commissioned in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

Judicial career

He was appointed QC in 1960,

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Grimsby (1961–1963) and Recorder of Derby (1963–1965). He received considerable public attention in 1963 when he appeared for the prosecution in the Great Train Robbery trial. In 1964, James was asked to chair the statutory inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Metropolitan Police's Detective Sergeant

Harold Challenor Harold Gordon "Tanky" Challenor, MM (16 March 1922 – 28 August 2008) was a wartime member of the SAS, decorated for his part in Operation Speedwell. After the war, he joined the Metropolitan Police, spending much of his career in Criminal In ...

's being able to plant evidence and assault suspects. In 1965, he was appointed a High Court Judge, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. He received the customary knighthood on his appointment. He was elected to an honorary fellowship of Jesus College in 1972. He was promoted to the

in 1973 and was sworn as a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

accordingly. He had a reputation as a hard-working judge. When he was a member of the Court of Appeal, it was once said (albeit with some exaggeration) that James made more decisions on criminal cases than the rest of his fellow judges put together, when taking into account decisions made without open court hearings. He was a member of the Parole Board from its foundation in 1967 to 1970 (serving as deputy-chairman in 1970). He chaired the 1971 Tribunal of Enquiry into the failure of the Vehicle and General Insurance Company. He later led the committee considering the distribution of work between the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

and the magistrates' courts, which reported in 1976. He was appointed deputy lieutenant for the County of Warwickshire in 1967, and was a trustee of the

Barber Institute of Fine Arts The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham. The Grade I listed Art Deco building was designed by Robert At ...

from 1974 until his death. He always considered himself to be a Birmingham man and continued to live there despite his judicial appointments in various locations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Arthur 1916 births 1976 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War II Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers Royal Corps of Signals officers Deputy Lieutenants of Warwickshire English barristers Lords Justices of Appeal Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Caterham School Lawyers from Birmingham, West Midlands Queen's Bench Division judges 20th-century King's Counsel 20th-century English judges