James Reid, Baron Reid

James Scott Cumberland Reid, Baron Reid, CH, PC, FRSE (30 July 1890 – 29 March 1975) was a Scottish Unionist politician and judge. His reputation is as one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century.[1]

The Right Honourable

The Lord Reid

CH PC QC
Reid in 1941, by Walter Stoneman
Lord Advocate
In office
1941–1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Preceded byThomas Cooper
Succeeded byGeorge Thomson
Solicitor General for Scotland
In office
1936–1941
Preceded byAlbert Russell
Succeeded bySir David King Murray
Member of Parliament
for Glasgow Hillhead
In office
11 June 1937 – 6 October 1948
Preceded bySir Robert Horne
Succeeded bySir Thomas Galbraith
Member of Parliament
for Stirling and Falkirk
In office
28 October 1931 – 25 October 1935
Preceded byHugh Murnin
Succeeded byJoseph Westwood
Personal details
Born(1890-07-30)30 July 1890
Drem, Scotland
Died29 March 1975(1975-03-29) (aged 84)
London, England
Spouse(s)Esther Brierly (m. 1933)
Alma materJesus College, Cambridge
Military service
Branch/serviceBritish Army
RankMajor
UnitRoyal Scots
Battles/warsFirst World War

Life

He was born on 30 July 1890 in Drem, East Lothian the son of James Reid a Solicitor of the Supreme Courts (SSC) and his wife, Kate Scott. [2] Educated at Edinburgh Academy, he then studied Law at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1910 and LLB in 1911. He was admitted as an advocate in 1914.

He was commissioned into the 8th battalion Royal Scots in World War I and was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps in 1916, serving in Mesopotamia and reaching the rank of Major. He resigned his commission in 1921. He was appointed a King's Counsel in 1932.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling and Falkirk from October 1931 until his defeat in November 1935, and for Glasgow Hillhead from June 1937 until September 1948.

He served as Solicitor General for Scotland from June 1936[3] until June 1941, and as Lord Advocate from June 1941[4] until July 1945, and was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1941. From 1941 he was titled Lord Reid.

From 1945 to 1948 he was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1948 he was appointed as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and received a Law Life Peerage as Baron Reid, of Drem in East Lothian. He sat as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until 1975. He was one of very few people to be appointed a Law Lord straight from the Bar, without any intervening judicial experience.

Reid was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1967.

He died in London on 29 March 1975.

Family

In 1933 he married Mrs Esther Mary Brierley (née Nelson), a widow.[5]

They did not have any children.

Cases decided

Selected judgments

In Shaw v DPP, (1961) UKHL 1 rendered on 4 May 1961, Reid said,

I shall not examine the authorities because I think that they establish that it is an indictable offence to say or do or exhibit anything in public which outrages public decency, whether or not it also tends to corrupt and deprave those who see or hear it. In my view it is open to a jury to hold that a public invitation to indulge in sexual perversion does so outrage public decency as to be a punishable offence. If the jury in this case had been properly directed they might well have found the accused guilty for this reason. And the offence would be the same whether the invitation was made by an individual or by several people acting in concert. But it appears to me to be impossible to say the same with regard to ordinary prostitution. The common law has never treated the appearance of a prostitute in public as an indictable offence however obvious her purpose might be, and an Act of Parliament has been found necessary to stop the nuisance of prostitutes parading in the public street.

In the same case, he went on to say:

Even if there is still a vestigial power of this kind it ought not, in my view, to be used unless there appears to be general agreement that the offence to which it is applied ought to be criminal if committed by an individual. Notoriously there are wide differences of opinion today as to how far the law ought to punish immoral acts which are not done in the face of the public. Some think that the law already goes too far, some that it does not go far enough. Parliament is the proper place, and I am firmly of opinion the only proper place, to settle that. When there is sufficient support from public opinion, Parliament does not hesitate to intervene. Where Parliament fears to tread it is not for the courts to rush in.

gollark: This is increasingly convincing me that git's CLI is terrible.
gollark: Really? Hmm.
gollark: Suuuuuuure.
gollark: Presumably it's homework in a particular language.
gollark: Rotate tetrationally.

References
  1. Smith, T. B. (2004). "Reid, James Scott Cumberland". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.
  2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  3. "No. 34301". The London Gazette. 3 July 1936. p. 4225.
  4. "No. 15820". The Edinburgh Gazette. 13 June 1941. p. 305.
  5. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  6. Knuller (Publishing, Printing and Promotions) Ltd. v. DPP [1973] A.C. 435 at 456, 56 Cr.App.R. 633 at 637
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Hugh Murnin		 Member of Parliament for Stirling and Falkirk
1931–1935		 Succeeded by
Joseph Westwood
Preceded by
Sir Robert Horne		 Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead
1937–1948		 Succeeded by
Tam Galbraith
Legal offices
Preceded by
Albert Russell		 Solicitor General for Scotland
1936–1941		 Succeeded by
Sir David King Murray
Preceded by
Thomas Cooper		 Lord Advocate
1941–1945		 Succeeded by
George Thomson


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