{{short description|Scottish judge (1944–2011)}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |name = The Lord Rodger of Earlsferry |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|country=GBR|PC|FBA|FRSE}} |image = Lord Roger of Earlsferry Independent.jpg |office = [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]]{{efn|[[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] until 30 September 2009}} |term_start = 1 October 2001 |term_end = 26 June 2011 |appointer = [[Elizabeth II]] |nominator = [[Jack Straw]] |predecessor = [[James Clyde, Baron Clyde|The Lord Clyde]] |successor = [[Lord Reed]] |office2 = [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session]] |term_start2 = 1 October 1996 |term_end2 = 13 November 2002 |predecessor2 = [[The Lord Hope of Craighead]] |successor2 = [[William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk|The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk]] |office3 = [[Lord Advocate]] |term_start3 = 15 April 1992 |term_end3 = 7 November 1995 |prime_minister3 = [[John Major]] |predecessor3 = [[Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie|The Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]] |successor3 = [[Donald Mackay, Baron Mackay of Drumadoon|The Lord Mackay of Drumadoon]] |office4 = [[Solicitor General for Scotland]] |term_start4 = 14 January 1989 |term_end4 = 15 April 1992 |prime_minister4 = [[Margaret Thatcher]]<br />[[John Major]] |predecessor4 = [[Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie|Peter Fraser]] |successor4 = [[Donald Mackay, Baron Mackay of Drumadoon|Donald Mackay]] |office5 = Member of the [[House of Lords]] |status5 = [[Lord Temporal]] |term_label5 = [[Life peer]]age |term_start5 = 29 April 1992 |term_end5 = 26 June 2011 |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1944|9|18}} |birth_place = [[Glasgow]], Scotland |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2011|6|26|1944|9|18}} |death_place = [[Clydebank]], Scotland |resting_place = |birth_name = Alan Ferguson Rodger |spouse = |relations = [[Ferguson Rodger]] (father) |alma_mater = [[University of Glasgow]]<br />[[New College, Oxford]] |occupation = Judge |profession = [[Faculty of Advocates|Advocate]] }} '''Alan Ferguson Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|FBA|FRSE}} (18 September 1944 – 26 June 2011) was a Scottish academic, lawyer, and [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]].
He served as [[Lord Advocate]], the senior [[Law Officer]] of Scotland, before becoming [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session]], the head of the country's judiciary. He was then appointed a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] (Law Lord) and became a Justice of the Supreme Court when the [[judicial functions of the House of Lords]] were transferred to that Court.
==Early life and career== Alan Rodger was born on 18 September 1944 in Glasgow, to Professor [[T Ferguson Rodger]], Professor of Psychological Medicine at the [[University of Glasgow]], and Jean Margaret Smith Chalmers, and educated at the [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private]] [[Kelvinside Academy]] in the city.<ref name="whoswho">{{cite web|title=RODGER OF EARLSFERRY|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U32978|work=[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=December 2008|access-date=20 June 2009}}</ref> He studied at the [[University of Glasgow]], graduating with an [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], and at the University's [[University of Glasgow School of Law|School of Law]], taking an [[LLB]].<ref name="whoswho"/> He then studied at [[New College, Oxford]]—under [[David Daube]], [[Regius Professor of Civil Law (Oxford)|Regius Professor of Civil Law]]—where he graduated with an [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|MA (by decree)]] and [[DPhil]], and was Dyke Junior Research Fellow at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], from 1969 to 1970 and a Fellow of New College from 1970 to 1972.<ref name="whoswho"/>
He became an advocate in 1974<ref name="GN">{{cite web|title=Rt Hon Lord Rodger of Earlsferry appointed an Honorary Professor|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archive/2009/july/headline_124594_en.html|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=2 July 2009|access-date=20 June 2009}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> and was Clerk of the [[Faculty of Advocates]] from 1976 to 1979. He was a Member of the [[Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland]] from 1981 to 1984, and was appointed [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1985.<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="GN"/> He was an [[Advocate Depute]] from 1985 to 1988 and was appointed [[Solicitor General for Scotland]] in 1989, being promoted to [[Lord Advocate]] in 1992, and was created a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Rodger of Earlsferry''', ''of [[Earlsferry]] in the [[North-East Fife (district)|District of North East Fife]]'' on 29 April 1992,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52911 |date=5 May 1982 |page=7756}}</ref> and was appointed to the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council]].<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="GN"/>
==Judicial career== Rodger was appointed a [[Senator of the College of Justice]], a judge of the [[High Court of Justiciary]] and [[Court of Session]], in 1995,<ref name="herald-1995-11-09-judge" /> He became [[Lord Justice General]] and [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord President]] in 1996. He was appointed a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] in 2001, upon the retirement of [[James Clyde, Baron Clyde|Lord Clyde]], in which capacity his Judicial Assistants included [[Charles Banner]]. He and nine other Lords of Appeal in Ordinary became [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Justices]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Supreme Court]] upon that body's inauguration on 1 October 2009.<ref name = Johnston>{{cite ODNB|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/103857|title = Rodger, Alan Ferguson, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry (1944–2011), judge and jurist|last = Johnston|first = David|date = 2015}}</ref>
==Death== Lord Rodger of Earlsferry died from a [[brain tumour]] at a hospice in [[Clydebank]] on 26 June 2011, at the age of 66.<ref name="death">{{cite news |title=Supreme Court judge Lord Rodger of Earlsferry dies |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13922675 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=26 June 2011 |access-date=27 June 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110627112923/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13922675| archive-date= 27 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name = Johnston/> Scottish First Minister [[Alex Salmond]], who provoked fury after criticising Rodger less than a month earlier,<ref>{{cite news |title=Alex Salmond provokes fury with attack on UK supreme court |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/01/alex-salmond-scotland-supreme-court |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=1 June 2011 |last=Carrell |first=Severin |access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref> said he had made an "outstanding contribution" to Scottish public life.<ref name="death" />
==Honours== Lord Rodger of Earlsferry was elected a Fellow of the [[British Academy]] in 1991, and the same year was the Maccabaean Lecturer at the Academy. He was appointed a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], an Honorary [[Bencher]] at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1992, and an Honorary Bencher of the [[Bar of Northern Ireland|Inn of Court of Northern Ireland]] in 1998. He was appointed an Honorary Member of SPTL, subsequently SLS in 1992 and a Corresponding Member of Bayerische Akademy der Wissenschaften in 2001. He was President of the [[Holdsworth Club]] in 1998–99 and made an Honorary Fellow of the [[American College of Trial Lawyers]] in 2008. He received honorary degrees of [[Doctor of Laws]] (LLD) from the Universities of [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]] (1995), [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] (1999) and [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]] (2001).
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry had been the [[Visitor]] of [[St Hugh's College, Oxford]], since 2003,<ref>{{cite web|title=St Hugh's College – Law|url=http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-study/courses/law|access-date=20 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609091818/http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-study/courses/law|archive-date=9 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[High Steward (academia)|High Steward]] of the University of Oxford since 2008,<ref>{{cite web|title=Oxford University Gazette: Notices: Appointment of High Steward|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2008-9/weekly/250908/notc.htm|date=25 September 2008|publisher=[[University of Oxford]]|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401230121/http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2008-9/weekly/250908/notc.htm|archive-date=1 April 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and an Honorary Professor at the [[University of Glasgow School of Law]] since July 2009.<ref name="GN" />
==Notable judgements== '''As Lord Justice General''' *[[Drury v HM Advocate|Drury v Her Majesty's Advocate]] 2001 SCCR 583 – definition of murder in Scotland
'''As Justice of the Supreme Court''' *[[R (E) v Governing Body of JFS]] [2009] UKSC 15 – racial discrimination in religious school admissions (dissenting) *[[HJ and HT v Home Secretary]] [2010] UKSC 31 – homosexuality in [[right of asylum|asylum]] claims
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== <references> <ref name="herald-1995-11-09-judge">{{cite news | url = http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12063900.Lord_Advocate_becomes_a_judge/ | title = Lord Advocate becomes a judge | newspaper = [[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] | location = Glasgow | date = 9 November 1995 | access-date = 9 June 2016 }}</ref> </references> <!-- end of refs -->
==External links== *[http://www.iuscivile.com/people/earlsferry/ Lord Rodger of Earlsferry: Tributes and Bibliography]
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | title=[[Solicitor General for Scotland]] | before=[[Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]] | after=[[Thomas Dawson, Lord Dawson|Lord Dawson]] | years=1989–1992}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lord Advocate]] | before=[[Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]] | after=[[Lord Mackay of Drumadoon]] | years=1992–1995}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lord President of the Court of Session]] <br> and [[Lord Justice General]] | before=[[Lord Hope of Craighead]] | after=[[Lord Cullen of Whitekirk]] | years=1996–2002}}
{{s-aca}} {{s-bef|before=[[Lord Bingham of Cornhill]] }} {{s-ttl | title=[[High Steward (academia)|High Steward]] of the [[University of Oxford]] | years=2008–2011 }} {{s-vac}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger of Earlsferry, Alan Rodger, Baron}} [[Category:1944 births]] [[Category:2011 deaths]] [[Category:Nobility from Glasgow]] [[Category:Lawyers from Glasgow]] [[Category:Law lords|Rodger of Earlsferry]] [[Category:People educated at Kelvinside Academy]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]] [[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]] [[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Solicitors general for Scotland]] [[Category:Lord advocates]] [[Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] [[Category:Lord presidents of the Court of Session]] [[Category:Lords Justice-General]] [[Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Members of the Faculty of Advocates]] [[Category:Scottish King's Counsel]] [[Category:20th-century King's Counsel]] [[Category:Senators of the College of Justice]] [[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:British legal historians]] [[Category:Scholars of Roman law]] [[Category:Scottish legal scholars]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Scotland]]