Terence Michael Elkan Barnet Etherton, Baron Etherton (21 June 1951 – 6 May 2025) was a British judge and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. He was the Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice from 2016 to 2021 and

Chancellor of the High Court The chancellor of the High Court is the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. This judge and the other two heads of divisions (Family and King's Bench) sit by virtue of their offices often, as and wh ...

from 2013 to 2016.

Early life

His grandparents moved from the

pale of settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

in Russia to the East End of London in the early 20th century. Etherton attended Holmewood House School and St Paul's School, and studied history and law 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 ...

. He was a member of the British fencing team (sabre) from 1977 to 1980 and was selected to compete at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, but joined the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

in protest against the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Legal career

Etherton 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 ...

(

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

) in 1974 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 1990. He was appointed a High Court judge on 11 January 2001 and assigned to 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 ...

, receiving the customary

knighthood 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 ...

. In August 2006, he was appointed Chairman of the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

, the statutory independent body created by the Law Commissions Act 1965 to keep the law under review and to recommend reform where needed. On 29 September 2008, on expansion of 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 ...

from 37 to 38 judges, Etherton was appointed 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 ...

. He was sworn in on 29 September 2008, and received the customary appointment to the Privy Council. On 11 January 2013, he was appointed

. On 3 October 2016, Etherton succeeded

Lord Dyson John Anthony Dyson, Lord Dyson, (born 31 July 1943) is a former British judge and barrister. He was Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice, the second most senior judge in England and Wales, from 2012 to 2016, and a Justice of the Sup ...

as Master of the Rolls. In October 2016, Etherton was one of the three judges forming the divisional court of the High Court in case of ''

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union ''R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union'' is a United Kingdom constitutional law case decided by the United Kingdom Supreme Court on 24 January 2017, which ruled that the British Government (the executive) might not i ...

'', which concerned the use of the

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, Privilege (law), privilege, and immunity recognised in common law (and sometimes in Civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy) as belonging to the monarch, so ...

for the issue of notification in accordance with

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to hav ...

(the Lisbon Treaty). His role in this judgment meant that he appeared in an infamous front-cover of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' (''

Enemies of the People The terms enemy of the people and enemy of the nation are designations for the political opponents and the social-class opponents of the power group within a larger social unit, who, thus identified, can be subjected to political repression. ...

''), and in a move which was widely seen as attacking his homosexuality, the Mail Online chastised Etherton for being an "openly-gay ex-Olympic fencer". The reference was swiftly removed, though without apology. In June 2019, Etherton, Sir Stephen Irwin and Sir Rabinder Singh found that ministers had breached British law when they "made no concluded assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict, and made no attempt to do so."

House of Lords

In December 2020, it was announced that Etherton would be created a crossbench

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in the 2020 Political Peerages. On 23 December 2020, he was created Baron Etherton, ''of Marylebone in the City of Westminster''. In May 2022, Lord Etherton was appointed by the Government to carry out an independent review of the treatment of LGBT military personnel between 1967 and 2000. His report was published in July 2023. In the

2024 Birthday Honours The 2024 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Charles III, King Charles III to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens ...

, Etherton was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to LGBT veterans.

Personal life and death

Etherton entered a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

in 2006. On his appointment as Lord Justice of Appeal in 2008, he said, "My appointment also shows that diversity in sexuality is not a bar to preferment up to the highest levels of the judiciary". On 10 December 2014, pursuant to legislation allowing couples in civil partnerships to convert the relationship to marriage, Etherton and his civil partner Andrew Stone were married in a Reform Judaism wedding ceremony at West London Synagogue. Etherton died on 6 May 2025, at the age of 73. He was survived by his husband, Andrew Stone.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etherton, Terence Etherton, Baron 1951 births 2025 deaths Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge British male sabre fencers Chancery Division judges Crossbench life peers Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Gay Jews LGBTQ judges British LGBTQ lawyers LGBTQ life peers Lord justices of appeal Masters of the Rolls Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom English gay sportsmen LGBTQ fencers Jewish sabre fencers Life peers created by Elizabeth II People educated at Holmewood House School People educated at St Paul's School, London 21st-century British LGBTQ people