Lord Sumption | |||||||||
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 | |||||||||
| Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | |||||||||
| In office 11 January 2012 – 9 December 2018 | |||||||||
| Nominated by | Kenneth Clarke | ||||||||
| Appointed by | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Preceded by | The Lord Collins of Mapesbury | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Lord Sales | ||||||||
| Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong | |||||||||
| In office 18 December 2019 – 4 June 2024 | |||||||||
| Appointed by | Carrie Lam | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | 9 December 1948 | ||||||||
| Nationality | British | ||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Teresa Sumption, née Whelan | ||||||||
| Children | 2 daughters; 1 son | ||||||||
| Parent(s) | Anthony Sumption Hilda Hedigan | ||||||||
| Residence(s) | London, England | ||||||||
| Education | Eton College | ||||||||
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford | ||||||||
| Occupation | Barrister; judge | ||||||||
| Profession | Law | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 岑耀信 | ||||||||
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Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, OBE, PC, FSA, FRHistS, KC (born 9 December 1948), is a British author, medieval historian, barrister and former senior judge who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, and a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal from 2019 to 2024.
Sumption was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on 11 January 2012, succeeding Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury.[1] Exceptionally, he was appointed to the Supreme Court directly from the practising bar, without having been a full-time judge. He retired from the Supreme Court on 9 December 2018 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Sumption is well known for his role as a barrister in many legal cases. They include appearances in the Hutton Inquiry on HM Government's behalf,[2] in the Three Rivers case,[3] his representation of former Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers and the Department for Transport in the Railtrack private shareholders' action against the British Government in 2005,[4] for defending HM Government in an appeal hearing brought by Binyam Mohamed,[5] and for successfully defending Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in a private lawsuit brought by Boris Berezovsky.[6]
A former academic, Sumption was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours[7] and is also known for writing a substantial narrative history of the Hundred Years' War in five volumes. Sumption has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sumption criticised lockdowns and associated British government policies as economically harmful.[8]
- ^ "Jonathan Sumption QC to be sworn in as Supreme Court Justice" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ Dodd (2003).
- ^ Law Lords Department (2000).
- ^ Irvine (2011).
- ^ Leigh (2010).
- ^ Croft (2012).
- ^ "No. 56797". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2002. p. 24.
- ^ Toynbee, Polly (7 April 2020). "Your money or your life? Coronavirus has sparked the latest culture war". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2020.