Peter Frederick Carter-Ruck (26 February 1914 – 19 December 2003) was an English

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

, specialising in

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

cases. The firm he founded,

Carter-Ruck Carter-Ruck is a British law firm founded by Peter Carter-Ruck. The firm specialises in libel, privacy, international law and commercial disputes. The leading legal directories (Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners) rank Carter-Ruck in the top ...

, is still practising.

Biography

Personal life

Carter-Ruck was educated at

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rug ...

. He spent three months in Germany during the 1930s, observing the rising popularity of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and attending a rally in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. Upon his return, he trained and qualified as a solicitor. His daughter Julie Scott-Bayfield also became a libel lawyer.

Career

He was Senior Partner, Oswald Hickson, Collier & Co (1945–1981) until he founded and was Senior Partner of his own eponymous firm, Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners (1981–1998). He was Chairman, Law Society Law Reform Committee (1980–1983) and a Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies (1998–2003). Carter-Ruck's first major case was defending the ''

Bolton Evening News ''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and online every day, it is pa ...

'' successfully against a libel action brought by the Labour MP

Bessie Braddock Elizabeth Margaret Braddock (née Bamber; 24 September 1899 – 13 November 1970) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liverpool Exchange division from 1945 to 1970. She was a ...

, who, the paper had claimed, had danced a jig in Parliament. In December 1995, Carter-Ruck acted for the

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

Tiggy Legge-Bourke Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer (née Legge-Bourke; born 1 April 1965) is a Welsh former nanny and companion to Prince William and Prince Harry. She was a personal assistant to Charles III (then Prince of Wales) from 1993 to 1999. She has used ...

in the matter of an allegation by

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

, that Legge-Bourke had aborted a pregnancy in which

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

was the father.

Criticism

In 1980, the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' editor

Derek Jameson Derek Jameson (29 November 1929 – 12 September 2012) was an English tabloid journalist and broadcaster. He began his career in the media in 1944 as a messenger at Reuters and worked his way up to become the editor of several British tabloi ...

was advised by Carter-Ruck that if he sued the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

over their portrayal of him in a ''

Week Ending ''Week Ending'' was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1970 and 1998. It was devised by writer-producers Simon Brett and David Hatch and was originally hosted by '' Nationwide'' presenter Michael B ...

'' sketch, he would win at least £25,000 in damages. The

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in the case,

David Eady Sir David Eady (born 24 March 1943) is a retired High Court judge in England and Wales. As a judge, he is known for having presided over many high-profile libel and privacy cases. He was called to the bar in 1966 and became a Queen's Counse ...

QC, however advised Carter-Ruck to accept the BBC's offer to settle for £10 plus

costs Cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is ...

. Carter-Ruck did not disclose this advice to his client. The

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

found the broadcast defamatory, but also fair comment and Jameson had to pay costs, receiving a bill for £41,342.50 from Carter-Ruck. Jameson learned by chance of the QC's advice and Carter-Ruck's former partner David Hooper claimed that "Carter-Ruck told him a string of lies". Carter-Ruck later claimed that he did not want to undermine Jameson's morale in court.

Personal life

* A yachtsman, he owned a succession of boats which he christened "Fair Judgment". He was a member of the Law Society Yacht Club, the

Royal Ocean Racing Club The Royal Ocean Racing Club is a club in London with a further clubhouse and office in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was established in 1925 as the Ocean Racing Club, as a result of a race to the Fastnet Rock from Cowes, finishing in Plymouth. It re ...

, the

Royal Yacht Squadron The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to we ...

, and the

Garrick Garrick may refer to: * Garrick (name), for the name's origin and people with either the surname or given name ** David Garrick (1717–1779), English actor * Garrick Club, a London gentlemen's club named in honour of David Garrick * Garrick Theatr ...

. * Carter-Ruck was the founder-governor of

Shiplake College Shiplake College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding and day school in Shiplake, by the River Thames, just outside Henley-on-Thames, England. The school, with 540 pupils, takes girls and boys from 11–18. Originally boys ...

at Henley.

References

External links

'The Carter-Ruck chill'
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' comment, December 2003
Peter Carter-Ruck obituary
''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', 22 December 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter-Ruck, Peter 1914 births 2003 deaths People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford English solicitors 20th-century English lawyers People from Steyning