Lennie Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann

{{short description|British and South African judge (born 1934)}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = The Lord Hoffmann |office = Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary |order = |honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable |honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=HKG|size=100%|GBS}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}} |native_name = |native_name_lang = |image = official portrait of Lord Hoffmann crop 2.jpg |caption = Hoffmann in 2018 |constituency = |monarch = Elizabeth II |predecessor = The Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead |successor = The Lord Hope of Craighead |majority = |office2 = Lord of Appeal in Ordinary |order2 =  |predecessor2 = |successor2 = The Lord Collins of Mapesbury |office3 = Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong |term_start3 = 12 January 1998 |appointer3 = Tung Chee-hwa

|office6 = Member of the House of Lords |status6 = Lord Temporal |term_label6 = Lord of Appeal in Ordinary |term_start6 = 21 February 1995 |term_end6 = |birth_name = Leonard Hubert Hoffmann |birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1934|05|08}} |birth_place = Cape Town, Union of South Africa |death_date = |death_place = |spouse = Gillian, Lady Hoffmann |children = 2 |alma_mater = {{plainlist| *University of Cape Town *The Queen's College, Oxford}} |occupation = Jurist |image_size = |term_start = 10 January 2007 |term_end = 21 April 2009 |term_start2 = 21 February 1995 |term_end2 = 21 April 2009 |module = {{Infobox Chinese | embed = yes | child = yes | c = {{linktext|賀|輔|明}} | j = Ho6 Fu6 Ming4 | y = Hoh Fuh Mìhng }} }}

'''Leonard Hubert "Lennie"<ref>{{cite news |first=Kim |last=Sengupta |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/how-hoffmanns-halo-slipped-1192054.html |title=How Hoffmann's halo slipped |date=18 December 1998 |work=The Independent }}</ref><ref name=liberal>{{cite news |title=Lord Hoffmann: A conservative liberal|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/253602.stm |access-date=5 April 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name=Birth>{{cite news |title=Birthdays today |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2013-5-8.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508144021/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/archive/2013-5-8.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 May 2013 |publisher=The Telegraph |access-date=28 April 2014 |date=8 May 2013 |quote=Lord Hoffmann, a former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, 79}}</ref> Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann''' {{Post-nominals|country=HKG|GBS}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|PC}} (born 8 May 1934) is a senior South African–British judge. Currently, he serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong; he formerly served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1995 to 2009.

Well known for his decisions and willingness to break with convention, Hoffmann has had an especially large impact on the interpretation of contracts, shareholder actions in UK company law, in restricting tort liability for public authorities, human rights and intellectual property law, in particular patents.

==Early life== Born on 8 May 1934, Leonard Hubert Hoffmann was a member of a Jewish family in Oranjezicht, overlooking Cape Town, South Africa. His grandparents established the family there in the late 1800s, having immigrated from Eastern Europe. His father was a well-known solicitor who co-founded what has become Africa's largest law firm, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs.<ref name="liberal" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2007-05-17 |title=Incoming: Call him Lennie |url=https://www.jpost.com/magazine/features/incoming-call-him-lennie |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en |issn=0792-822X}}</ref>

==Education== Hoffmann was educated at the University of Cape Town and then attended The Queen's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied for the BCL degree and won the Vinerian Scholarship.<ref name="liberal" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vinerian Scholars Gather in Oxford|url=https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-11-16-vinerian-scholars-gather-oxford|date=2015-11-13|website=Oxford Law Faculty|language=en|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>

Between 1961 and 1973, he was Stowell Civil Law Fellow at University College, Oxford, where he is an Honorary Fellow.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}

==Legal career== Hoffmann became a barrister in 1973.<ref name=":0" /> His first client was a law student who had been evicted from his lodgings.<ref name="liberal" />

In 1963, he published the first edition of ''The South African Law of Evidence'', a work which became the standard text and which has since been published in four editions. After being called to the Bar from Gray's Inn in 1964, Hoffmann became one of the most sought after and highly priced barristers of his generation and was quickly made a judge, having taken silk on 19 April 1977.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=47201|date=21 April 1977|page=5339}}</ref>

==Judicial career== Hoffmann was appointed to the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey on 20 November 1980<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48384|date=28 November 1980|page=16525}}</ref> and stayed in office until 1985. He was also appointed to the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division from 1985 to 1992. On 23 July 1985, he was knighted upon his appointment, as is customary for High Court judges.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=50221|date=6 August 1985|page=10815}}</ref>

He was subsequently appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal on 1 October 1992<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=53070|date=7 October 1992|page=16751|supp=y}}</ref> and stayed in office until 1995. In 1995, Hoffmann was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (more commonly known as a Law Lord) and thereby raised to the peerage as '''Baron Hoffmann''', of Chedworth in the County of Gloucestershire.<ref name=liberal /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=53965|date=24 February 1995|page=3079}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23737|date=24 February 1995|page=423|city=e}}</ref>

''Twinsectra v Yardley'' (trust law) and ''MacNiven v Westmoreland'' (tax law) are prominent examples of his judicial positions. Both cases led to differences of view between him and Lord Millett. Hoffmann gave the leading judgment in ''Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society'', in which he set out five principles for interpreting contracts.

He retired as a Law Lord on 20 April 2009<ref>[http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18955 Appointment of two Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, Wednesday, 8 April 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415073737/http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18955 |date=15 April 2009 |publisher=Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street }}</ref> and joined the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London, as Honorary Professor of Intellectual Property Law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccls.qmul.ac.uk/staff/hoffmann.html|title=Hoffmann|publisher=qmul.ac.uk|access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref>

===Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal=== Hoffmann has been a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hkcfa.hk/en/about/who/judges/npjs/index_id_10.html|title=Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - The Non-Permanent Judges - The Right Honourable The Lord HOFFMANN, GBS |access-date=3 June 2016 |website=www.hkcfa.hk}}</ref>

In 2014 he was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.hk/cml/eng/miscell/index2.htm|title=Civil And Miscellaneous Lists : Recipients of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Honours and Awards Grand Bauhinia Medal (G.B.M.)|access-date=3 June 2016|website=www.info.gov.hk|archive-date=26 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026204102/https://www.info.gov.hk/cml/eng/miscell/index2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Links with Amnesty International=== Hoffmann's failure to declare his links with Amnesty International before ruling on whether Augusto Pinochet was immune from prosecution led to the unprecedented setting aside of a House of Lords judgment. He later commented to ''The Daily Telegraph'' that "the fact is I'm not biased. I am a lawyer. I do things as a judge. The fact that my wife works as a secretary for Amnesty International is, as far as I am concerned, neither here nor there."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/235456.stm |title=A look at Lord Hoffmann |date=December 17, 1998 |work=BBC News }}</ref>

==Personal life{{Anchor|Family}}== Leonard and Gillian (Sterner) Hoffmann have two daughters and two grandchildren.<ref name="liberal"/> They were married at Cape Town Synagogue in the late 1950s. {{As of|1999}}, the Hoffmanns lived in Hampstead, London, and spent weekends in Chedworth.<ref name="liberal" />

Hoffmann is an avid cyclist and opera-goer.<ref name="liberal" /> He has also been involved in various charities through these interests.<ref name="liberal" />

==Opinions in terrorism cases== Hoffmann was involved in three important judgments of the House of Lords concerning terrorism: ''Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman'' [2001] UKHL 47; ''A v Secretary of State for the Home Department'' [2004] UKHL 56; and ''A v. Secretary of State for the Home Department'' [2005] UKHL 71. In ''Rehman'', at para 62, he wrote:<blockquote>Postscript. I wrote this speech some three months before the recent events in New York and Washington. They are a reminder that in matters of national security, the cost of failure can be high. This seems to me to underline the need for the judicial arm of government to respect the decisions of ministers of the Crown on the question of whether support for terrorist activities in a foreign country constitutes a threat to national security. It is not only that the executive has access to special information and expertise in these matters. It is also that such decisions, with serious potential results for the community, require a legitimacy which can be conferred only by entrusting them to persons responsible to the community through the democratic process. If the people are to accept the consequences of such decisions, they must be made by persons whom the people have elected and whom they can remove. </blockquote>

It appeared that he was willing to defer to the executive in matters concerning national security in the fairly long tradition of English judges deferring to the executive in such matters, including Lord Denning in ''ex-parte Hosenball''. However, in 2004, Hoffmann took a robust stand (joining the majority of judges in the decision) against the executive in the Belmarsh case, ''A v. SSHD'' [2004] UKHL 56. In this case Hoffmann wrote at para 97 that:<blockquote> The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a victory.</blockquote>

In ''A v. Secretary of State for the Home Department'' [2005] UKHL 71, Hoffmann said:<blockquote>The use of torture is dishonourable. It corrupts and degrades the state which uses it and the legal system which accepts it.</blockquote>

==Notable judgments== *''Re Augustus Barnett & Son Ltd'' [1986] BCLC 170 *''Improver v Remington'' [1990] FSR 181 *''Nestle v National Westminster Bank plc'' [1992] EWCA Civ 12, [1993] 1 WLR 1260 - English trusts law concerning the duty of care when a trustee is making an investment; Hoffmann's decision supported on appeal *''Bishopsgate Investment Management Ltd v Maxwell (No 2)'' [1993] BCLC 814 - UK company law concerning a director's duty to act for proper purposes of the company. *''Re D'Jan of London Ltd'' [1994] 1 BCLC 561, [1993] BCC 646 *''William Sindall plc v Cambridgeshire County Council'' [1994] 1 WLR 1016 *''Re Saul D Harrison & Sons plc'' [1995] 1 BCLC 14, [1994] BCC 475 *''Biogen Inc v Medeva plc'' [1997] RPC 1 [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1996/18.html [1996<nowiki>]</nowiki> UKHL 18] *''South Australia Asset Management Corp v York Montague Ltd'' [1996] UKHL 10, [1997] AC 191 *''Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd v Argyll Stores'' [1997] UKHL 17 *''Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society'' [1997] UKHL 28 *''Banque Financiere de la Cite v Parc (Battersea) Ltd'' [1998] UKHL 7 *''O'Neill v Phillips'' [1999] UKHL 24, [1999] 1 WLR 1092 *''Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust'' [2000] 1 AC 406 *''Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Rehman'' [2001] [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200102/ldjudgmt/jd011011/rehman-3.htm UKHL 47] *''Standard Chartered Bank v Pakistan National Shipping Corp'' [2003] 1 AC 959 *''Kirin-Amgen v Hoechst Marion Roussel'' [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2004/46.html [2004<nowiki>]</nowiki> UKHL 46] *''A v Secretary of State for the Home Department'' [2004] [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/ldjudgmt/jd041216/a&others.pdf UKHL 56] *''A v Secretary of State for the Home Department'' [2005] [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd051208/aand.pdf UKHL 71] *''OBG Ltd v Allan'' [2007] UKHL 21, [2008] 1 AC 1, [2007] 2 WLR 920 *''Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc or The Achilleas'' [2008] UKHL 48 *''Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom Ltd'' [2009] UKPC 10

== Publications == A selection of his extra-judicial writings:

* [https://oadoi.org/10.1080/03069400.1995.9992917 "Anthropomorphic justice: The reasonable man and his friends"] (2010) 29(2) ''The Law Teacher'' 127 *"Language and Lawyers" [2018] 134 ''Law Quarterly Review'' 553

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20111219175036/http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Speeches/Hoffmann_2009_JSB_Annual_Lecture_Universality_of_Human_Rights.pdf Universality of Human Rights], Hoffmann's lecture, 2009

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=None}} {{s-ttl|title=Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong|years=1998–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-prec}} {{s-before|before = Patrick Chan ''Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal''}} {{s-ttl|title = Hong Kong order of precedence ''Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal''}} {{s-aft|after = Lord Neuberger ''Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal''}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Lennie}} Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:South African Rhodes Scholars Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:Alumni of South African College Schools Category:Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:Law lords Category:Crossbench life peers Category:English Jews Category:Justices of the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong) Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of Gray's Inn Category:Amnesty International people Category:University of Cape Town alumni Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Category:People from Cape Town Category:Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Category:Knights Bachelor Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Chancery Division judges Category:Jewish British politicians Category:South African Jews Category:English barristers