Sir Jeremy Hugh Stuart-Smith (born 18 January 1955), styled the Rt Hon Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, is an English judge who has been 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 ...

since 2020.

Origins and education

He is the son of Sir

Murray Stuart-Smith Sir Murray Stuart-Smith, KCMG, PC (18 November 1927 – 21 January 2025) was an English barrister and Appeal Court judge. His 1997 re-examination of Lord Taylor's report into the Hillsborough disaster is seen today as a "debacle". Early lif ...

(a former Lord Justice of Appeal) and Joan, the daughter of Major Thomas Motion. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

and at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

Legal career

Stuart-Smith 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 1978 and was appointed

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 1997. He was appointed a High Court judge with effect from 2 October 2012, being assigned by the

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

to the Queen’s Bench Division. He was consequentially knighted in the

2013 Special Honours The Special Honours are issued at the Queen's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer the award of the Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle, Order of Merit, Royal Victorian Order and the Order of St John. † indicates an awar ...

. He was promoted to the

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 ...

on 1 October 2020. He is the co-author, with Professor Robert Merkin, of a textbook on the law of motor insurance.

Personal life

Stuart-Smith married on 25 September 1982 Hon. Arabella Montgomery, the daughter of

David Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein David Bernard Montgomery, 2nd Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (18 August 1928 – 8 January 2020) was a British politician and businessman. He was the son of British World War Two Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Early life and education Mo ...

. They had five children: *Emma Stuart-Smith (born 6 October 1984) *Laura Stuart-Smith (1986–1987) *Edward Murray Stuart-Smith (born 6 May 1988) *Samuel Nicholas Stuart-Smith (born 6 December 1990) *Luke David Stuart-Smith (born 19 January 1993) He is a keen player of the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

References

1955 births Living people Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Lord justices of appeal Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Radley College {{UK-law-bio-stub