Jonathan Sumption
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, OBE
, QC
(born 9 December 1948) is a UK barrister
and medieval historian
. On 4 May 2011 it was announced that he had been appointed to the United Kingdom Supreme Court, to be sworn in at a date agreed between him and Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court.
He is known for his appearance in the Hutton Inquiry
on the UK government's behalf,; for his part in the Three Rivers case; his representation of former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers
and the UK Department for Transport in the Railtrack
private shareholders' action against the British Government in 2005; and for defending the government in an appeal hearing brought by Binyam Mohamed.
As a historian his works include a substantial narrative history of the Hundred Years' War
, so far in three volumes.
, a decorated Royal Naval officer and barrister, and Hilda Hedigan; their marriage was dissolved in 1979.
Sumption was educated at Eton College
and Magdalen College, Oxford
. He graduated from Oxford University in 1970, receiving a B.A.
degree
in History
with first class honours. He worked in History as a Fellow of Magdalen College
, before leaving to pursue law. He was called to the bar at Inner Temple
in 1975 and has since pursued a successful legal practice in commercial law. In the late 1970s Sumption wrote regularly for the Sunday Telegraph
.
in 1986, and a Bencher
at Inner Temple
in 1991. He is a deputy High Court
judge in the Chancery Division, and a judge of the Court of Appeal of Jersey and the Guernsey Court of Appeal.
He is a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission
, as a representative of the legal profession, and is also a Governor of the Royal Academy of Music
. He is joint head of Brick Court Chambers
, one of Britain's most successful sets.
On 30 November 2007, he was successful, acting as a litigant in person before Mr Justice Collins, in a judicial review application in the Administrative Court concerning development near his home in Greenwich.
newspaper reported that it understood that Sumption had applied to be appointed as a Justice
of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
. In October 2009, the Supreme Court took over all the powers and functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (the "Law Lords"), the highest court in the United Kingdom in civil matters and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal appeals.
In the history of the Appellate Committee, there have been only five appointments of men straight from the Bar, without any intervening full-time judicial experience. Two were Scots lawyers: Lord Macmillan
in 1930 and Lord Reid
in 1948; the others were Lord Macnaghten
(1887), Lord Carson
(1921) and Lord Radcliffe
(1949).
On May 2011 it was announced that Sumption would take a seat on the Supreme Court sometime during the remainder of 2011. Once formally appointed he will be styled as a Lord for life.
describes him as being a member of the "million-a-year club", the elite group of barristers who earn over a million pounds a year. In a letter to the Guardian in 2001, he compared his "puny £1.6 million a year" to the vastly larger amounts that comparable superstars in business, sports and entertainment are paid.
For a four week trial (and all the preparatory work) in the UK in 2005 he charged £800,000 plus VAT to represent the UK government in the largest class action
in the UK, brought by 49,500 private shareholders of the collapsed national railway infrastructure company Railtrack
. The government had money and reputation at stake. The case examined some of the actions of the government, especially of former transport secretary Stephen Byers
MP. Byers became the only former Cabinet Minister to be cross-examined in the High Court
in relation to his actions in modern times. The UK Government won the case.
's History of the Crusades according to Frederic Raphael
, and as a work that 'deploys an enormous variety of documentary material ... and interprets it with imaginative and intelligent sympathy' and is 'elegantly written' (Rosamond McKitterick, Evening Standard); for Allan Massie
it is 'An enterprise on a truly Victorian scale ... What is most impressive about this work, apart from the author's mastery of his material and his deployment of it, is his political intelligence'. There will be five volumes altogether, with Volume IV (covering the years from 1399 to 1422), expected to appear in 2015, the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(born 9 December 1948) is a UK barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and medieval historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. On 4 May 2011 it was announced that he had been appointed to the United Kingdom Supreme Court, to be sworn in at a date agreed between him and Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court.
He is known for his appearance in the Hutton Inquiry
Hutton Inquiry
The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee...
on the UK government's behalf,; for his part in the Three Rivers case; his representation of former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers
Stephen Byers
Stephen John Byers is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010; in the previous parliament, from 1992, he represented Wallsend...
and the UK Department for Transport in the Railtrack
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from its formation in April 1994 until 2002...
private shareholders' action against the British Government in 2005; and for defending the government in an appeal hearing brought by Binyam Mohamed.
As a historian his works include a substantial narrative history of the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, so far in three volumes.
Early life
Sumption's parents were Anthony SumptionAnthony Sumption
Anthony James Chadwick Sumption DSC was a British tax lawyer and wartime submarine commander.He was educated at Cheltenham College and the London School of Economics, where he read law. From 1941 to 1944, Sumption served in submarines, first, in then and...
, a decorated Royal Naval officer and barrister, and Hilda Hedigan; their marriage was dissolved in 1979.
Sumption was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
. He graduated from Oxford University in 1970, receiving a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
with first class honours. He worked in History as a Fellow of Magdalen College
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, before leaving to pursue law. He was called to the bar at Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1975 and has since pursued a successful legal practice in commercial law. In the late 1970s Sumption wrote regularly for the Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
.
Legal career
He became a Queen's CounselQueen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
in 1986, and a Bencher
Bencher
A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can be elected while still a barrister , in recognition of the contribution that the barrister has made to the life of the Inn or to the law...
at Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1991. He is a deputy High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
judge in the Chancery Division, and a judge of the Court of Appeal of Jersey and the Guernsey Court of Appeal.
He is a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission
Judicial Appointments Commission
The Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for selecting judges in England and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body which was created on 3 April 2006 as part of the reforms following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005...
, as a representative of the legal profession, and is also a Governor of the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. He is joint head of Brick Court Chambers
Brick Court Chambers
Brick Court Chambers is a set of barristers' chambers in London.Currently comprising 71 full-time members, 35 of whom are Queen's Counsel, including well-known silks Sir Sydney Kentridge QC and Jonathan Sumption QC.- External links :* * * *...
, one of Britain's most successful sets.
On 30 November 2007, he was successful, acting as a litigant in person before Mr Justice Collins, in a judicial review application in the Administrative Court concerning development near his home in Greenwich.
Supreme Court
On 9 February 2009, The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper reported that it understood that Sumption had applied to be appointed as a Justice
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than the President and Deputy President. The Supreme Court is the highest in the United Kingdom for civil matters, and for criminal matters from England and Wales and Northern Ireland...
of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the supreme court in all matters under English law, Northern Ireland law and Scottish civil law. It is the court of last resort and highest appellate court in the United Kingdom; however the High Court of Justiciary remains the supreme court for criminal...
. In October 2009, the Supreme Court took over all the powers and functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (the "Law Lords"), the highest court in the United Kingdom in civil matters and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal appeals.
In the history of the Appellate Committee, there have been only five appointments of men straight from the Bar, without any intervening full-time judicial experience. Two were Scots lawyers: Lord Macmillan
Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan
Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan GCVO PC was a Scottish judge.The son of the Revd Hugh Macmillan, he was educated at Collegiate School, Greenock, at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow...
in 1930 and Lord Reid
James Reid, Baron Reid
James Scott Cumberland Reid, Baron Reid, CH, KC FRSE was a Scottish Unionist politician and judge. His reputation is as one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century....
in 1948; the others were Lord Macnaghten
Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten
Edward Macnaghten, Baron Macnaghten, Bart., GCB, GCMG was an Anglo-Irish rower, barrister, Conservative-Unionist politician and one of seven Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.-Early life and rowing:...
(1887), Lord Carson
Edward Carson, Baron Carson
Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson PC, PC , Kt, QC , often known as Sir Edward Carson or Lord Carson, was a barrister, judge and politician from Ireland...
(1921) and Lord Radcliffe
Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe
Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe GBE, PC, QC was a British lawyer and Law Lord most famous for his partitioning of the British Imperial territory of India.-Background, education and early career:...
(1949).
On May 2011 it was announced that Sumption would take a seat on the Supreme Court sometime during the remainder of 2011. Once formally appointed he will be styled as a Lord for life.
Earnings
The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
describes him as being a member of the "million-a-year club", the elite group of barristers who earn over a million pounds a year. In a letter to the Guardian in 2001, he compared his "puny £1.6 million a year" to the vastly larger amounts that comparable superstars in business, sports and entertainment are paid.
For a four week trial (and all the preparatory work) in the UK in 2005 he charged £800,000 plus VAT to represent the UK government in the largest class action
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
in the UK, brought by 49,500 private shareholders of the collapsed national railway infrastructure company Railtrack
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from its formation in April 1994 until 2002...
. The government had money and reputation at stake. The case examined some of the actions of the government, especially of former transport secretary Stephen Byers
Stephen Byers
Stephen John Byers is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010; in the previous parliament, from 1992, he represented Wallsend...
MP. Byers became the only former Cabinet Minister to be cross-examined in the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in relation to his actions in modern times. The UK Government won the case.
Historian
His narrative history of The Hundred Years War between England and France (so far 3 volumes, 1991–2009) has been widely praised as 'earning a place alongside Sir Steven RuncimanSteven Runciman
The Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
's History of the Crusades according to Frederic Raphael
Frederic Raphael
Frederic Michael Raphael is an American-born, British-educated screenwriter, and also a prolific novelist and journalist.-Life and career:...
, and as a work that 'deploys an enormous variety of documentary material ... and interprets it with imaginative and intelligent sympathy' and is 'elegantly written' (Rosamond McKitterick, Evening Standard); for Allan Massie
Allan Massie
Allan Massie is a well-known Scottish journalist, sports writer and novelist.-Early life:Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire...
it is 'An enterprise on a truly Victorian scale ... What is most impressive about this work, apart from the author's mastery of his material and his deployment of it, is his political intelligence'. There will be five volumes altogether, with Volume IV (covering the years from 1399 to 1422), expected to appear in 2015, the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt.
Publications
- Pilgrimage: An Image of Medieval Religion (1975) ISBN 0-571-10339-1
- The Albigensian Crusade (1978) ISBN 0-571-11064-9
- Equality (1979, with Keith JosephKeith JosephKeith St John Joseph, Baron Joseph, Bt, CH, PC , was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers , and is widely regarded to have been the "power behind the throne" in the creation of what came to be known as...
) ISBN 0-7195-3651-0 - The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle (1991) ISBN 0-571-13895-0
- The Hundred Years War II: Trial by Fire (1999) ISBN 0-571-13896-9
- The Age of Pilgrimage: The Medieval Journey to God (2003) ISBN 1-58768-025-4
- The Hundred Years War III: Divided Houses (2009) ISBN 0-571-13897-7
Articles
Review ofNotable cases
- Lonrho Ltd v Shell Petroleum Co Ltd (No 1) [1980] QB 358 (subsidiary companies)
- Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale LtdLipkin Gorman v Karpnale LtdLipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1991] 2 AC 548 is a foundational English unjust enrichment case. The House of Lords unanimously established that the basis of an action for money had and received is the principle of unjust enrichment, and that an award of restitution is subject to a defence of change...
[1987] 1 WLR 987 - R v Panel on Takeovers and Mergers Ex parte Datafin Plc [1987] QB 815
- Powdrill v Watson [1995] 2 AC 394
- Re Goldcorp Exchange Ltd [1995] 1 AC 74
- Target Holdings Ltd v Redferns [1996] AC 421
- Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington LBC [1996] AC 669
- Smith New Court Securities Ltd v Citibank NA [1997] AC 254 (fraud, misrepresentation)
- South Australia Asset Management Corp v York Montague Ltd [1997] AC 191
- Bristol & West Building Society v Mothew [1998] Ch 1
- Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building SocietyInvestors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building SocietyInvestors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society [1997] is the most cited English contract law case, and one of the most cited contract cases today. It laid down that a contextual approach must be taken to interpretation of contracts...
[1998] 1 WLR 896 - Equitable Life Assurance v Hyman [2000] 2 All ER 331
- Philip Morris Products Inc v Rothmans International Enterprises Ltd [2000] UKCLR 912 (company groups, voting rights)
- Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2)Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2)Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge [2001] is a leading case relevant for English property law and English contract law on the circumstances under which actual and presumed undue influence can be argued to vitiate consent to a contract.-Facts:...
[2001] UKHL 44 - Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam [2002] UKHL 48
- HIH Casualty & General Insurance Ltd v Chase Manhattan Bank [2003] UKHL 6
- Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2003] UKHL 66
- Wilson v First County Trust [2003] UKHL 40
- Three Rivers District Council v Bank of England [2004] 3 WLR 1274 (about the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce InternationalBank of Credit and Commerce InternationalThe Bank of Credit and Commerce International was a major international bank founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a Pakistani financier. The Bank was registered in Luxembourg with head offices in Karachi and London. Within a decade BCCI touched its peak...
) - Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc [2009] UKSC 6, won, representing the Barclays Bank plc.
- Stone & Rolls v Moore Stephens [2009] UKHL 39, won, representing the accountants