{{Short description|British senior Barrister and distinguished Appeal Judge}} {{Infobox Judge |name=The Lord Diplock |office=Lord of Appeal in Ordinary |monarch= |term_end=14 October 1985 |term_start=30 September 1968 |honorific_prefix=The Right Honourable |death_date={{Death date and age|1985|10|14|1907|12|08|df=yes}} |birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1907|12|08}} |office1=Lord Justice of Appeal |office2=Justice of the High Court |honorific_suffix={{Post-nominals|country=UK|size=100%|PC}} |term_start1=1961 |term_end1=30 September 1968 |term_start2=1956 |term_end2=1961 |birth_name=William John Kenneth Diplock }}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=January 2020}} '''William John Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock''', {{Post-nominals|country=UK|size=100%|PC}} (8 December 1907 – 14 October 1985) was an English barrister and judge who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary between 1968 and until his death in 1985. Appointed to the High Court of Justice in 1956 and the Court of Appeal five years later, Diplock made important contributions to the development of constitutional and public law as well as many other legal fields. A frequent choice for governmental inquiries, he is also remembered for proposing the creation of the eponymous juryless Diplock courts. Of him, Lord Rawlinson of Ewell wrote that "to his generation Diplock was the quintessential man of the law".
==Early life and legal career== Kenneth Diplock was born in South Croydon, the son of solicitor William John Hubert Diplock and his wife Christine Joan (nee Brooke). He was educated at Whitgift School in Croydon and University College, Oxford, where he read chemistry, taking a Second in 1929.<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|title=Diplock, (William John) Kenneth, Baron Diplock (1907–1985), judge|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31031|access-date=2020-09-23|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31031|last1=Sedley|first1=Stephen|last2=Quesne|first2=Godfray Le}}</ref><ref name="ojls">{{cite journal |last=Dickson |first=Brice |year=1989 |title=The Contribution of Lord Diplock to the General Law of Contract |journal=Oxford Journal of Legal Studies |volume=9 |issue=4 |page=441 |doi=10.1093/ojls/9.4.441 |authorlink=Brice Dickson}}</ref> He was Secretary of the Oxford Union for a term in 1929. He later become an honorary fellow of University College in 1958.<ref name="contract law">{{cite book|last=Andrews|first=Neil|title=Contract Law|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-12467-6|page=681|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-pIwAlqJkMC&q=%22Lord+Diplock%22+biography&pg=PA681}}</ref>
Diplock was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1932. After two years in the chambers of Sir Valentine Holmes, KC, he transferred to the chambers of Sir Leslie Scott, KC. In 1939, he left legal practice for service in the Second World War; in 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force, in which he reached the rank of squadron leader. From 1939 to 1948, he was secretary to the Master of the Rolls, Lord Greene.<ref name=":0" />
Returning to the bar in 1945, Diplock was made a King's Counsel in 1948, at the early age of 41.<ref name="Barrett">{{cite book |first=Maxwell|last=Barrett|title=The Law Lords|date=2000|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780230596993|pages=55–56|ol=52418712M}}</ref> He acquired a large practice in commercial work and in advisory work for Commonwealth governments. He was Recorder of Oxford from 1951 to 1956, and served on the Law Reform Committee.<ref name="ojls" />
==Judicial career== In 1956, Diplock was appointed to the High Court of Justice, receiving the customary knighthood. Assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, he was appointed President of the Restrictive Practices Court in January 1961. He was promoted to Lord Justice of Appeal in October 1961, and was sworn of the Privy Council. He was chairman of the Security Commission from 1971 to 1982.<ref name="ojls" />
He became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary on 30 September 1968<ref name="ojls" /> and was elevated as a life peer with the title '''Baron Diplock''', ''of Wansford in the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough'' to the House of Lords.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44687 |date=1 October 1968 |page=10537}}</ref><ref name="contract law"/>
He became the senior Law Lord upon the retirement of Lord Wilberforce in 1982.<ref name="ojls" /> He resigned his seniority in October 1984 but remained a Law Lord until his death the following year.
As Lord Diplock, he chaired a commission set up in 1972 to consider legal measures against terrorism in Northern Ireland, which led to the establishment of the juryless Diplock courts with which his name is now often associated.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 November 2022 |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/diplock-trials-could-be-coming-to-an-end-50-years-after-they-were-first-introduced/42125823.html |title='Diplock' trials could be coming to an end 50 years after they were first introduced |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |access-date=14 July 2024 |archive-date=5 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905142744/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/diplock-trials-could-be-coming-to-an-end-50-years-after-they-were-first-introduced/42125823.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In September 1985, Lord Diplock sat as a judge for the last time, in a special sitting of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council during the Long Vacation for an urgent civil case from Trinidad and Tobago. Severely ill from emphysema, Diplock came to court from the hospital in a wheelchair and with an oxygen cylinder.
At the time of his death, Lord Diplock was the longest serving law lord as well as the last serving superior judge to not be covered by the mandatory retirement age of 75 introduced by the Judicial Pensions Act 1959.<ref name="ojls" />
==Personal life== He married Margaret Sarah Atcheson in 1938; they had no children.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Diplock, Baron (Life Peer), ((William John) Kenneth Diplock) (8 Dec. 1907–14 Oct. 1985)|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-163589|access-date=2020-09-23|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u163589|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1|archive-date=5 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905142852/https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-163589|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
==Contributions to legal thought== He made many contributions to legal thought and pushed the law in new and unique directions, not least UK courts without juries ('Diplock courts)'.<ref name=diplock>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/diplock.htm Report of the Commission to Consider Legal Procedures to deal with Terrorist Activities in Northern Ireland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806130302/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/diplock.htm |date=6 August 2011 }} (Cmmd. 5185); full text of the Diplock Report</ref> His rulings, especially those on administrative law, are often considered as authoritative not only in England but across the Commonwealth and even in the United States, where he has been cited by the Second Circuit and Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer, 462 U.S. 523 (1983)|url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep462/usrep462523/usrep462523.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=General Electric Co. v. MV Nedlloyd|url=https://casetext.com/case/general-elec-co-v-mv-nedlloyd|access-date=9 July 2021|archive-date=5 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905142744/https://casetext.com/case/general-elec-co-v-mv-nedlloyd|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Examples include ''Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service'' [1984] UKHL 9 or ''R (National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd) v Inland Revenue Commissioners'' [1982] AC 617, on grounds of review and locus standi respectively.
He also made important contributions to contract law.<ref name="ojls" />
The current typology of grounds for judicial review is owing to Lord Diplock.
*Procedural impropriety<ref>{{cite journal|last=Woolf|first=Harry|authorlink=Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf|title=The Role of the English Judiciary in Developing Public Law|journal=William and Mary Law Review|year=1986|volume=27|issue=4|page=675|url=http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2125&context=wmlr&sei-redir=1#search=%22%22Lord+Diplock%22+Procedural+impropriety%22|access-date=10 June 2011|archive-date=5 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905142848/http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2125&context=wmlr&sei-redir=1#search=%22%22Lord+Diplock%22+Procedural+impropriety%22|url-status=live}}</ref> *''Nemo judex'' (Bias rule)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Laws|first=John|authorlink=John Laws (judge)|title=Is the High Court the Guardian of Fundamental Constitutional Rights|journal=Commonwealth Law Bulletin|date=October 1992|volume=18|issue=4|page=1389|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/commwlb18&div=76&g_sent=1&collection=journals|doi=10.1080/03050718.1992.9986233|url-access=subscription}}</ref> *''Audi alteram partem'' (Hearing rule)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sacks|first=Vera|author2=Maxwell, Judith |title=Unnatural Justice for Discriminators|journal=The Modern Law Review|date=May 1984|volume=47|issue=3|pages=336–337|jstor=1095955}}</ref> *Illegality<ref name=clr>{{cite journal|last=Jowell|first=Jeffrey|author2=Lester, Anthony|authorlink2=Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill|title=Beyond Wednesbury: Substantive Principles of Administrative Law|journal=Commonwealth Law Review|date=April 1988|volume=14|issue=2|page=859|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/commwlb14&div=32&g_sent=1&collection=journals|doi=10.1080/03050718.1988.9985971|access-date=10 June 2011|archive-date=5 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905142850/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/commwlb14&div=32&id=&page=|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> *''Ultra vires'' *Simple ''ultra vires'' *Extended ''ultra vires'' *Procedural ''ultra vires'' *Fettering *Irrationality<ref name=clr /> *Wednesbury irrationality *Lack of proportionality * Innominate Terms<ref>The Hong Kong Fir [1961] EWCA Civ 7</ref> * Primary and Secondary Obligations<ref>Moschi v. Lep AirServices Ltd. [1973] A.C. 331 per Lord Diplock, confirmed in Photo Production Ltd. v Securior Transport Ltd. [1980] UKHL 2 at [5] per Lord Wilberforce</ref>
==Notable judgments== ===High Court=== *''Silkin v Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd'' [1958] 1 WLR 743
===Court of Appeal=== *''Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd'' [1962] 2 QB 26 *''Boulting v Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians'' [1963] 2 QB 606 *''BBC v Johns'' [1965] Ch 32 *''Letang v Cooper'' [1965] 1 QB 232 *''United Dominions Trust Ltd v Kirkwood'' [1966] 2 QB 431 *''R v Mowatt'' [1968] 1 QB 421
===House of Lords=== *''Pettitt v Pettitt'' [1970] AC 777 *''Dorset Yacht Co Ltd v Home Office'' [1970] AC 1004 *''Gissing v Gissing'' [1971] AC 886 *''Re Vandervell Trustees Ltd'' [1971] AC 912 *''American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd'' [1975] AC 396 *''Ayerst (Inspector of Taxes) v C&K (Construction) Ltd'' [1976] AC 167 *''Town Investments v Department of the Environment'' [1978] AC 359 *''DPP v Stonehouse'' [1978] AC 55, 68 *''Erven Warnink BV v J Townend & Sons (Hull) Ltd'' [1979] AC 731 *''Gibson v Manchester City Council'' [1979] 1 WLR 294 *''Whitehouse v Lemon; Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd'' [1979] AC 406, [1979] 2 WLR 281, [1979] 1 All ER 898 *''IRC v Burmah Oil Co. Ltd'' 1982 SC (HL) 114 *''Catnic Components Ltd v Hill & Smith Ltd'' [1982] RPC 183 *''Universe Tankships Inc. of Monrovia v. International Transport Workers' Federation'' [1983] 1 AC 366 *''R v Miller'' [1983] 2 AC 161 *''Cheall v APEX'' [1983] 2 AC 180 *''O'Reilly v Mackman'' [1983] 2 AC 237 *''R v Sullivan'' [1984] AC 156 *''Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service'' [1985] AC 374 *''Harvela Investments Ltd v Royal Trust of Canada (CI) Ltd'' [1986] AC 207 *''R v Lawrence'' [1982] AC 510
===Judicial Committee of the Privy Council=== *''Ong Ah Chuan v Public Prosecutor'' [1981] AC 648 *''Mitchell v DPP'' [1986] AC 73 *''Haw Tua Tau v. Public Prosecutor'' [1981] UKPC 23
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon=Gules a quintain Argent garnished and with a crossbeam and targe double chained towards the base and padlocked Or a border Ermine. |crest=A demi horse Argent crined and unglued Or supporting a pair of keys interlaced at the bows wards downwards and outwards the dexter Argent the sinister Or. |supporters=On a compartment of ploughed land between pasture within a hedgerow interspersed with paling all Proper dexter a fox hound sinister a fox both Proper. |motto=Celeriter Ac Diligenter<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle Temple Armory |author=Baz Manning}}</ref>}}
==See also== *Judicial review in English law *Air New Zealand Flight 901
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/diplock.htm Report of the Commission to Consider Legal Procedures to deal with Terrorist Activities in Northern Ireland] *[https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_DIP Parliamentary Archives, Papers of William, Lord Diplock]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diplock, Kenneth Baron Diplock}} Category:1907 births Category:1985 deaths Category:20th-century English judges Category:Law lords Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford Category:People educated at Whitgift School Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Category:People from Croydon Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:20th-century King's Counsel Category:Senior lords of appeal in ordinary Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Lord justices of appeal Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Queen's Bench Division judges