Sir Charles Eustace Harman (22 November 1894 – 14 November 1970) was an English

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

who was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1959 to his retirement in mid-1970.

Biography

Sir Charles Harman was born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, the son of John Eustace Harman (1861–1927), barrister of

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 ...

, and his wife, Ethel Frances ''née'' Birch, of Onslow Square,

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. His brother John Augustus (Jack), only a year and a half his senior, was killed in a 1917 flying accident, as part of his war service with the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

. Charles's own university career was interrupted by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was wounded within the first year, at the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner; he used the time to improve his languages.Denys B. Buckley, ‘Harman, Sir Charles Eustace (1894–1970)’, rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 14 Sept 2015
/ref> Harman was appointed a Justice of 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 ...

of the

High Court of England and Wales 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 ...

on 12 December 1947. A few days later he was knighted. He was promoted to be a

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 ...

in the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

on 7 April 1959. Following that appointment, Harman was made a member of the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are curre ...

. He retired from his judicial office on 6 June 1970. Sir Charles' son,

Jeremiah Harman Jeremiah Harman (1763-1844) was chief of a family known in the commercial world for nearly a century, and highly esteemed both in England and abroad. He may himself be said to have stood at the head of London city, both as to mercantile and pri ...

, was also a judge. He died in hospital in London, aged 75.

Notable decisions

Notable judicial decisions of Sir Charles included: * ''

Re Nanwa Gold Mines Ltd ''Re Nanwa Gold Mines Ltd'' 9551 WLR 880 was a trust law decision relating to subscription monies for shares and what would subsequently come to be known as ''Quistclose'' trusts. The court held that where subscription monies had been paid ove ...

955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...

1 WLR 1080 * ''Four-Maids Ltd v Dudley Marshall (Properties) Ltd''

957 Year 957 ( CMLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * September 6 – Liudolf, the eldest son of King Otto I, dies of a violent fever near Pombia (it is rumored from a laten ...

Ch 317

Biography

Notable decisions

Arms

References

Further reading