Sir Patrick Reginald Evelyn Browne, PC,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, TD (28 May 1907 – 1 October 1996) was an English judge, who was 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) Justice ...

between 1974 and 1980.

Biography

Patrick Browne was born in Cambridge, the son of Edward Granville Browne, a leading Cambridge Orientalist, and of Alice Caroline Browne, daughter of the historian

Francis Henry Blackburne Daniell Francis Henry Blackburne Daniell (19 January 1845 – 10 February 1921) was an Anglo-Irish barrister and historian, known for his work on the '' Calendar of State Papers''. Early life and education Francis Henry Blackburne Daniell was born at Roeb ...

. His grandfather was Sir Benjamin Chapman Browne, head of the shipbuilding and engineering firm R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company. His father died in 1924 and his mother died the following year. Browne was educated at Eton College, before going up to

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

(honorary fellow, 1975), where his father had been a fellow, in 1925, the year of his mother's death. He read Law 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 ...

by the Inner Temple in 1931. The same year, he married Evelyn Sophie Alexandra (''d'' 1966), daughter of the archaeologist Sir Charles Walston, a family friend. They had two daughters, the elder of which was Harriet Crawford. After Evelyn's death, he married Lena Atkinson in 1977. On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he joined the Royal Horse Artillery, and was employed in the planning of air defence at the War Office, becoming a

GSO1 A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

and a lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed an OBE (Military Division) in 1945. Returning to the bar, Browne acquired a large civil practice, mainly in planning law and parliamentary work. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1960, and was Deputy Chairman of the Essex County Quarter Sessions from 1963 to 1965. He also edited the second edition of ''Shawcross and Beaumont's Air Law''. In 1965, he was appointed a Justice of the High Court and assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, receiving the customary knighthood. He was the first instance judge in the seminal case ''

Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission ''Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission'' 9692 AC 147 is a UK constitutional law case from the House of Lords in English administrative law. It established the " collateral fact doctrine", that any error of law made by a public body w ...

'', where he found in favour of the plaintiffs. Reversed by 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 ...

, his judgment was restored by the House of Lords. Unusually, his judgment in full was annexed to the Lords' judgment. He was made a

in 1974, and was sworn 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Patrick Knights Bachelor 1996 deaths People from Cambridge People educated at Eton College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Royal Horse Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire Queen's Bench Division judges Lords Justices of Appeal Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 20th-century English judges