Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman

Who was Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman?

Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, OBE, PC was an English judge and barrister, who served as a Law Lord until his retirement in 1986.

He was born in Streatham but grew up on the border of Sussex and Surrey. He won scholarships to Radley College and then Brasenose College, Oxford, as a Classical Scholar, graduating in 1932 with a first.

He was called to the Bar in 1936. He remained briefless until World War II, which he spent in the RAF as a staff officer in England, North Africa, and then continental Europe and he was present with Lord Tedder when the German surrender was accepted in Berlin. He returned to law in 1945, practising from Fountain Court Chambers in London, and became a QC in 1957, and a High Court judge in 1961 – assigned to the Family Division. He joined the Court of Appeal in 1973 and was Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, a Law Lord, from 1977 until his retirement in 1986.

He was appointed head of the Law Commission from 1965 to 1973, during which time 27 Commission-inspired statutes were made law.

As a judge, Scarman's career had some controversial decisions.