Thomas Bingham

Thomas Bingham

Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, (13 October 1933 – 11 September 2010), was an eminent British judge who was successively Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. He was described as the greatest lawyer of his generation. Baroness Hale of Richmond observed that his pioneering role in the formation of the United Kingdom Supreme Court may be his most important and long-lasting legacy. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers regarded Bingham as "one of the two great legal figures of my lifetime in the law" (the other figure, in context, being Lord Denning). David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead described Bingham as "the greatest jurist of our time".After retiring from the judiciary in 2008, Bingham focused on teaching, writing, and lecturing on legal subjects, particularly the law of human rights. His book, The Rule of Law, was published in 2010 and he was posthumously awarded the 2011 Orwell Prize for literature. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law named the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in his honour.

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