John Usher (legal scholar)

John Usher FRSE (12 August 1945 – 13 September 2008) was a British academic specialising in European law. Educated at Newcastle University, he earned a scholarship to study French private law at the University of Nancy, working as an assistant at the University of Exeter after his graduation. In 1974 he became the secretary of Jean Pierre Warner at the European Court of Justice, a position he held for four years before becoming a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, where he stayed until 1983, when he moved to University College London. In 1986 he became Professor of European Law at the University of Exeter before returning to the University of Edinburgh in 1995 to be Edinburgh as Salvesen Professor and Director of the Europa Institute. In 2004 he again returned to Exeter as head of the School of Law. Planning early retirement, Usher was diagnosed with leukaemia, and died on 13 September 2008.