"Current Issues Troubling English Courts, including Human Rights and Terrorism" Monday, Oct. 24, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Homsey Family Moot Courtroom Open to the Public Featuring: The Right Honourable Lord Justice Scott Baker, Lord Justice of Appeal, Court of Appeal, London, England |
At 5:00pm on Monday, October 24, The Right Honourable Lord Justice Scott Baker will give a lecture open to students, faculty, and the public in the Homsey Family Moot Courtroom, where his topic will be "Current Issues Troubling the English Courts, including Human Rights and Terrorism."
The Right Honourable Lord Justice Scott Baker
Born: 10.12.37
Eldest son of the Right Hon Sir George Baker, High Court judge and 1971 – 79 President of the Family Division and Lady J.R. Baker.
Educated: Haileybury and Imperial Service College and Brasenose College, Oxford.
Married: 10.2.73 (Margaret) Joy Baker, now Lady Baker.
2 sons; 1 daughter.
Called to the Bar: Middle Temple 1961; Master of the Bench 1985; Treasurer 2004.
- Served on Chorleywood Urban District Council 1964-67.
- Member of the Senate of the Inns of Court 1977-84.
- Member of the Bar Council 1988.
- Member of the Government Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation 1982-84.
- Appointed Queen’s Counsel 1978.
- Appointed High Court Judge 1988 (Family Division 1988-92, Queen’s Bench Division 1992-2002)
- Presiding Judge of the Wales and Chester circuit 1991-95.
- Lead Judge of the Administrative Court 2000-02.
- Member of the Parole Board 1999-2002 (Vice Chairman 2000-02).
- Lord Justice of Appeal from 2002.
Outside interests:
Golf:
Member of the Denham Golf Club from 1957.
Captain 1992
Chairman 1995 -2001.
As a lawyer I have always been a board generalist, dealing as a Q.C in particular with family financial cases, accountants negligence, medical and solicitors negligence on a regular basis. I also acted for the British Airline Pilots Association in a number of aircraft accident investigations as well as other matters.
As a judge in the Court of Appeal (most courts have 3 judges) I sit on every aspect of the law including criminal cases.
Select cases decided by the Right Honorable Lord Justice Scott Baker involving human rights:
- SB v. Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School, [2005] EWCA (Civ) 199, [1]-[94] (Eng.). Muslim student was excluded from school because she wore particular religious dress that did not comply with the school dress code. Lord Justice Scott Baker concurred in the opinion that the school unlawfully denied the student the freedom to to manifest her religion.
- R (Douglas) v North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council and Secretary of State for Education and Skills, [2003] EWCA (Civ) 1847, [1]-[65] (Eng.). (LexisNexis login required). 59 year old student claimed that denial of a student loan amounted to a violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The court held that Article 2 of Protocol 1 to the Human Rights Convention "enshrined a right of access to educational institutions" but the student loan arrangement in question "did not fall within the ambit of the Convention."
- R (on the application of Rose and another) v. Secretary of State for Health and Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, [2002] EWHC (Admin) 1593, [1]-[61] (Eng.). (LexisNexis login required). Claimants born as a result of artificial insemination sought information about their donative parents. The court held that Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was applicable. "Respect for private and family life had been interpreted by the European Court to incorporate the concept of personal identity. The right of everyone to have the opportunity to establish details of his or her identity as a human being plainly included the right to obtain information about a biological parent who would inevitably have contributed to the identity of the child."