{{Short description|English judge (born 1933)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Baroness Butler-Sloss | honorific_suffix = GBE, PC | image = Official portrait of Baroness Butler-Sloss crop 2, 2019.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2019 | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 13 June 2006 | term_end1 = | office2 = President of the Family Division | term_start2 = 1999 | term_end2 = April 2005 | predecessor2 = | successor3 = Sir Mark Potter | office3 = Lord Justice of Appeal | term_start3 = 1988 | term_end3 = 1999 | office4 = Judge of the High Court | term_start4 = 1979 | term_end4 = 1988 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1933|8|10|df=y}}<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor-last=Mosley |editor-first=Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page=617 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref> | birth_place = Buckinghamshire, England | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | birth_name = Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Havers | spouse = {{marriage|Joseph William Alexander Butler-Sloss|1958}} | father = Sir Cecil Havers | relations = {{plainlist| *Lord Havers (brother) *Nigel Havers (nephew)}} | children = 3 | party = None (crossbencher) | other_party = Conservative Party (1950s) }}
'''Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss''', (''née'' '''Havers'''; born 10 August 1933) is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom until 2004, when Baroness Hale was appointed to the House of Lords. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed. She stood down from that task with effect from that date, and the inquest was conducted by Lord Justice Scott Baker.
==Early life== Butler-Sloss was born on 10 August 1933 to Sir Cecil Havers, a barrister (later a judge), and Enid Flo Havers (''née'' Snelling). She was sister to Michael Havers, Baron Havers, a Conservative Lord Chancellor, and is aunt to his sons, the actor Nigel Havers and the barrister Philip Havers KC. She was educated at Broomfield House School in Kew, in West London, and Wycombe Abbey School, an all-girls independent boarding school in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.<ref name="burke"/> This was followed by a year at the University of Lausanne.<ref name=Anglican>"Why I am Still an Anglican", ''Continuum 2006'', p. 48</ref> She passed the bar without a university degree.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/nov/12/childrensservices.uknews|title=The Guardian profile: Elizabeth Butler-Sloss|first=Clare|last=Dyer|date=11 November 2004|access-date=23 June 2017|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>
Butler-Sloss stood as the Conservative candidate for Vauxhall in the 1958 London County Council election, and the equivalent constituency in the 1959 general election, where she won 38% of the vote, but was defeated by the Labour MP George Strauss.
==Career== ===Legal career=== Butler-Sloss was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in February 1955.<ref name="WW 20">{{cite web |title=Butler-Sloss, Baroness, (Ann Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss) (born 10 Aug. 1933) |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U9697 |website=Who's Who 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=29 June 2023 |language=en |date=1 December 2019}}</ref> In 1970 she was appointed a Registrar of the Principal Probate Registry (the predecessor to the Principal Registry of the Family Division).<ref>[https://financialremediesjournal.com/content/the-origin-history-and-present-status-of-the-principal-registry-of-the-family-division.ef1ae563995440d4b5aa3479c772136b.htm "The Origin, History and Present Status of the Principal Registry of the Family Division"] by Sir James Munby and Sir Nicholas Mostyn, ''Financial Remedies Journal'', 1 July 2024. (Retrieved 30 December 2024.)</ref> In 1979, she became the fourth woman to be appointed a High Court judge,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=47968|page=12354|date=2 October 1979}}</ref> after Elizabeth Lane, Rose Heilbron, and Margaret Booth. As were all previous female High Court judges, she was assigned to the Family Division. As per tradition, she was also made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=51202|page=599|date=18 January 1980}}</ref>
In 1988, Butler-Sloss became the first woman appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal (judge of the Court of Appeal),<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48072|page=899|date=19 January 1988}}</ref> having chaired the Cleveland child abuse inquiry in the previous year. In 1999, she became President of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=55633 |page=10807|date=11 October 1999}}</ref> the first woman to hold this position and the highest-ranking woman judge in the United Kingdom until Brenda Hale became the first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, in January 2004. She was known officially as "Lord Justice Butler-Sloss" until Bingham MR issued a practice direction in 1994 to refer to her informally as "Lady Justice Butler-Sloss";<ref>{{cite web |title=Mode Of Address: Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss |url=https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/Misc/1994/1.html |website=BAILII |publisher=Jordan Publishing Limited |access-date=24 January 2022}}</ref> the official title in s2(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 was amended by the Courts Act 2003.
Butler-Sloss was advanced to the rank of Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 2005 New Year Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=57509|supp=y |page=7|date=31 December 2004}}</ref> On 12 January 2005, it was announced that she was retiring, being replaced as President of the Family Division by Sir Mark Potter, then a Lord Justice of Appeal.
On 4 August 2006, Butler-Sloss was appointed to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved for a period of five years.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=58062 |page=10685|date=4 August 2006}}</ref>
On 7 September 2006, Butler-Sloss was appointed as Deputy Coroner of the Queen's Household and Assistant Deputy Coroner for Surrey for the purpose of hearing the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5307730.stm|title=BBC NEWS – UK – Ex-judge tipped for Diana inquest|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=2 September 2006 |access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5322932.stm|title=BBC NEWS – UK – Diana inquest to be held in 2007|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=7 September 2006 |access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6588369.stm|title=BBC NEWS – UK – Diana inquest coroner steps down|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=24 April 2007 |access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref> On 2 March 2007, she was appointed as Assistant Deputy Coroner for Inner West London for the purpose of transferring the jurisdiction of the inquest to Inner West London so that the proceedings may sit in the Royal Courts of Justice. On 24 April 2007, she announced she was stepping down in June 2007, saying she lacked the experience required to deal with an inquest with a jury. The role of coroner for the inquests was transferred to Lord Justice Scott Baker. This had been preceded by the overturning by the High Court of her earlier decision to hold the inquest without a jury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/408.html|title=Paul & Ors v Deputy Coroner of the Queen's Household & Anor [2007] EWHC 408 (Admin)}}</ref>
On 8 July 2014, it was announced that Butler-Sloss would chair the forthcoming large-scale inquiry into cases of child sex abuse in previous decades.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28203914|title=Ex-senior judge Butler-Sloss to head child sex abuse inquiry|date=8 July 2014|work=BBC News}}</ref> She stood down on 14 July after mounting pressure from victims' groups and MPs over her suitability regarding the fact that her brother was the Attorney General at the time of some of the abuses in question<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28291275|title=Butler-Sloss urged to stand aside|date=14 July 2014|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28295282|title=Butler-Sloss stands down|date=14 July 2014|work=BBC News}}</ref> and her perceived unwillingness to include mention of former Anglican bishop Peter Ball.<ref>{{cite news |last=Philipson |first=Alice |date=12 July 2014 |title=Baroness Butler-Sloss hid claims of bishop's sex abuse |work=Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10963332/Baroness-Butler-Sloss-hid-claims-of-bishops-sex-abuse.html |access-date=31 July 2017}}</ref>
===House of Lords=== On 3 May 2006, it was announced by the House of Lords Appointments Commission that Butler-Sloss would be one of seven new life peers – so-called "people's peers".<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=57972|supp=y|page=6055|date=3 May 2006}}</ref> She was created '''Baroness Butler-Sloss''', of Marsh Green in the County of Devon, on 13 June 2006.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=58013 |page=8261|date=16 June 2006}}</ref> She sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.<ref name="Lords career">{{cite web |title=Baroness Butler-Sloss: Parliamentary career |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/3804/career |website=MPs and Lords |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=29 June 2023}}</ref> She made her maiden speech on 21 November 2006 during the Debate on the Address on that year's Queen's Speech.<ref name="maiden">{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction= United Kingdom |title= Debate on the Address |url= https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2006-11-21/debates/06112153000003/details#contribution-06112158000029 |house= House of Lords |date= 21 November 2006 |volume= 687 |column_start= 276 |column_end= 278 |speaker= Baroness Butler-Sloss |position=}}</ref>
Butler-Sloss has been active in the House of Lords, and served as a member of a number of committees. She was formerly a member of the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee (2007–2012). She has been a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee, a Joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, since 2010 and has served as its chair since June 2020. She has been a member of the Procedure and Privileges Committee, a select committee of the House of Lords since January 2023.<ref name="Lords career"/>
===Other work=== Butler-Sloss became Chancellor of the University of the West of England in 1993 and an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, Peterhouse, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, King's College London, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She sits on the Selection Panel for King's Counsel. In December 2004 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Bath and in June 2005 she was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. She was Chairman of the Security Commission prior to its abolition in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Experience for Baroness Butler-Sloss – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/3804/experience|access-date=13 October 2020|website=members.parliament.uk|language=en}}</ref>
==Personal life== Butler-Sloss married her husband, Joseph William Alexander Butler-Sloss, in 1958. The marriage produced three children.
Butler-Sloss is a church-going Anglican. In 2002, she chaired the Crown Appointments Committee charged with the selection of a new Archbishop of Canterbury. She was Chairman of the Advisory Council of St Paul's Cathedral from 2000 to 2009<ref name=Anglican/> and currently serves as Chair for the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.corab.org.uk/background-information|title=Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life|access-date=23 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025043339/http://www.corab.org.uk/background-information|archive-date=25 October 2014}}</ref> {{as of|2015}}, she lives in East Devon.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Express & Echo|date=18 August 2015|url=http://exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Lympstone-child-rapist-guilty-despite-Butler/story-27630575-detail/story.html|title=Lympstone child rapist found guilty despite Butler-Sloss support|access-date=18 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150819124713/http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Lympstone-child-rapist-guilty-despite-Butler/story-27630575-detail/story.html|archive-date=19 August 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Notable judgments== *Joyce v Sengupta and Another: CA 31 Jul [1992] – Newspaper can be sued for malicious falsehood *''Re T (Consent to Medical Treatment)(Adult Patient)'' [1993] Fam. 95 *[https://deedpolloffice.com/change-name/children/case-law/Re-W-Re-A-Re-B-Change-of-Name-1999-EWCA-Civ-2030 ''Re'' W, ''Re'' A, ''Re'' B (Change of Name) <nowiki>[1999]</nowiki> EWCA Civ 2030] *''Re J (Specific Issue Orders: Child's Religious Upbringing and Circumcision) [2000] 1 FLR 571 CA'' *''An NHS Trust A v M and An NHS Trust B v H'' [2001] Fam 348 *[[Ms B v An NHS Hospital Trust|''Re B (Consent to Treatment: Capacity)'' [2002] EWHC 429]]
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = Butler-Sloss Achievement.png |escutcheon = Sable a pelican in her piety Or vulned Gules between three chess rooks Or. |motto = Try To Anticipate<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019}}</ref>}} Baroness Butler-Sloss' arms are a version of the arms borne by her brother, Michael Havers, Baron Havers.
==See also== *Ms B v An NHS Hospital Trust
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502003242/http://www.butler-sloss-inquests.gov.uk/biography/index.htm |date=2 May 2007 |title=Biography from the Judicial Communications Office }} *[https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,672289,00.html No-nonsense approach of the right-to-die judge] – Profile of Butler-Sloss at Guardian Unlimited, 22 March 2002 *[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/minutes/060725/ldminute.htm Announcement of her introduction at the House of Lords], House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 25 July 2006 *[http://www.corab.org.uk/ Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life]
{{s-start}} {{s-academic}} {{s-bef|before=}} {{s-ttl|title=Chancellor of the University of the West of England|years=1993–2011}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Ian Carruthers}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Stephen Brown}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the Family Division|years=1999–2005}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Mark Potter}} {{s-end}}
{{UKParliamentCommitteeChairs}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler-Sloss, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness}} Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:English barristers Category:English legal professionals Category:English women judges Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:English Anglicans Category:Family Division judges Category:Fellows of King's College London Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:People associated with the University of the West of England Category:Lawyers from Buckinghamshire Category:Peers recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission Category:Crossbench life peers Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey Category:British women lawyers Elizabeth Category:Lady justices of appeal Category:Lawyers from Devon Category:Presidents of the Family Division Category:20th-century British women judges Category:21st-century British women judges Category:21st-century English judges Category:20th-century English judges Category:Lawyers awarded damehoods