Peter Smith (judge)
Sir Peter Winston Smith (born 1 May 1952), abbreviated to Peter Smith J in judgements, is a former High Court judge who sat in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales from 5 April 2002 to 27 October 2017.[1] He was the subject of comment and investigation in relation to his judicial behaviour in various circumstances. He retired on 28 October 2017.
Name and abbreviation[edit]
Smith's name is correctly abbreviated in English legal writing as "Peter Smith J," and not as "Smith J", as is the norm for High Court judges. This is because there were other senior judges also named Smith.
Biography[edit]
Smith was born in Taiping, Malaya to George Arthur Smith and Iris Muriel Smith, while his father was posted abroad. He grew up with five siblings in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, and attended grammar school in nearby Bridlington.
He read law at Selwyn College, Cambridge. After receiving a BA degree in 1974, promoted in 1976 to an MA by seniority, Smith briefly practised in Liverpool before becoming a law lecturer at Manchester University from 1977 to 1983. He practised as a barrister on the Northern Circuit from 1979 to 2002, being an Assistant Recorder from 1994 to 1997, a Deputy High Court Judge from 1996 to 2002, and a Recorder from 1997 to 2002. Upon his elevation to the High Court bench in 2002, he was knighted as a matter of course.[2]
In 1980, Smith married Diane Dalgleish. They have one son and two daughters.
Smith is a member of the Titanic Historical Society and the British Titanic Society. Other hobbies include being a "Jackie Fisher fan", reading military history, and football. He currently resides in London.
Controversial cases[edit]
Baigent and Leigh v The Random House Group Ltd (2006)[edit]
In April 2006, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the pseudo-historical book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, sued Dan Brown, author of the book The Da Vinci Code, alleging Brown had copied them. Smith ruled that Dan Brown had not infringed the copyright. While Brown had taken ideas from the earlier book, he did not copy the "central theme" of his book from there. As ideas themselves cannot be the subject of copyright, Smith ruled that Brown had not substantially copied the original work.[3]
Criticism in the media[edit]
In a column in the Guardian newspaper, Joshua Rozenberg returned to the theme of Smith's suitability for judicial office, repeating his contention, first raised in 2007, that it was now time for Smith to resign. Smith had "agreed to refrain from sitting" before the Harb appeal, and this effective suspension from work was to continue.[21]
On 2 August 2016, writing in The Times Frances Gibb reported that Smith had "been signed off sick and may never return to work", being mentally unfit to defend himself in a disciplinary inquiry, which could mean that a decision may not be made for several months. A spokesman for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office was reported as having said, "The JCIO investigation into the BA matter is continuing." A separate inquiry relating to the Harb appeal was under way. He would not confirm whether the judge was unwell.[22]
On 11 April 2017 Joshua Rozenberg returned to the topic of Smith's continued holding of judicial office. Rozenberg speculated that Smith would retire from the High Court once he attained 65 years of age in May 2017, qualifying for immediate payment of his judicial pension.[23]
On 2 October 2017 Rozenberg reported that a formal disciplinary tribunal was due to sit in private at the end of October 2017 in order to hear unspecified allegations against Smith, who had been effectively suspended on full pay since May 2016. Rozenberg drew attention to the fact that it was over 10 years since he had first called for Smith's resignation.[24]
Smith's retirement, with effect from 28 October 2017, was announced on 27 October 2017.[25]