Sir Charles Declan Morgan PC (born 14 January 1951) is a retired judge from Northern Ireland.

Early life

Morgan was born in 1951 and was educated at

St Columb's College St Columb's College is a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. Since 2008, it has been a specialist school in mathematics. It is named after Saint Columba, the missionary monk from County Donegal who founded a monast ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. He then was educated at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, and

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. He was called to the

Bar of Northern Ireland The Bar of Northern Ireland is the professional association of barristers for Northern Ireland, with over 600 members. It is based in the Bar Library, beside the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, together with ...

in 1976 and became a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1994. Between 2002 and 2004, he was Senior Crown Counsel for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He also served for a time as Judge-In-Residence at the School of Law of Queen's University Belfast.

Judicial career

In 2004, Morgan was appointed a judge of the High Court and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. He became Chairman of the Law Reform Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland that same year, and in 2007 was appointed Chairman of the Northern Ireland Law Commission. In 2007, he was appointed to the Family Division of the Court, and in 2008 moved to hearing cases for judicial review. On 18 June 2009, it was announced that Mr Justice Morgan would succeed Sir Brian Kerr as Lord Chief Justice following the latter's appointment as a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 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 ...

. He was sworn into office on 3 July 2009. On 10 February 2010, Morgan was sworn of

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council 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 ...

Personal life

Sir Declan is married with three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Declan 1951 births Northern Ireland King's Counsel Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Knights Bachelor Lord chief justices of Northern Ireland Living people Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom High Court judges of Northern Ireland People educated at St Columb's College