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Stephen Sedley
Sir Stephen John Sedley (born 9 October 1939) is a British lawyer. He worked as a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011 and was a visiting professor at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2015.
Sedley was born to Rachel and William "Bill" Sedley. His father, who came from a Jewish immigrant family, operated a legal advice service in the East End of London in the 1930s. In the Second World War, Bill (1910–1985) served in North Africa and Italy with the Eighth Army. He founded the firm of lawyers of Seifert and Sedley in the 1940s with Sigmund Seifert, and was a lifelong Communist. Stephen himself joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1958, and left in the early 1980s. He was an unsuccessful Communist candidate for the Camden ward on Camden London Borough Council at the 1974 local elections. Sedley was described as a "former member" of the party by The Daily Telegraph in 2007. Sir Stephen's younger brother is Professor David Sedley.
Stephen Sedley attended Mill Hill School, followed by Queens' College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1961.
After graduation, Sedley worked as a musician and translator from 1961 to 1964. Sedley was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1964 and practised in Cloisters chambers with John Platts-Mills, David Turner-Samuels and Michael Mansfield.
Sedley had a particular interest in the development of administrative law (the judicial review of governmental and administrative decision making). He was involved in cases which broadened the scope of judicial review and established the modern procedure for judicial review, and in ground-breaking cases in relation to employment rights, sex and race discrimination, prisoners' rights, coroners' inquests, immigration and asylum and freedom of speech. He was counsel in many high-profile cases and inquiries, from the death of Blair Peach and the Carl Bridgewater murder appeal to the Helen Smith inquest and the contempt hearing against Kenneth Baker, then Home Secretary.
In 1976, Sedley attended, as one of a group of observers, the "Luanda Trial", sometimes called "the Mercenaries' Trial", held by the then recently-victorious MPLA government in Luanda, Angola.
He became a QC in 1983. He was appointed a High Court judge in 1992, serving in the Queen's Bench Division. In 1999 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal as a Lord Justice of Appeal. He was a Judge ad hoc of the European Court of Human Rights and a Member ad hoc of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His retirement from the Court of Appeal in 2011 coincided with the publication of a collection of his essays and lectures.
In September 2017, Sedley appeared at the launch of Jewish Voice for Labour, described by activist Jonathan Rosenhead as "a new organisation for Labour Party Jews who don't want to buy into the Jewish Labour Movement's pro-Zionist agenda". Sedley spoke on the subject of "Free Speech, Antisemitism and criticism of Israel".
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Stephen Sedley
Sir Stephen John Sedley (born 9 October 1939) is a British lawyer. He worked as a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011 and was a visiting professor at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2015.
Sedley was born to Rachel and William "Bill" Sedley. His father, who came from a Jewish immigrant family, operated a legal advice service in the East End of London in the 1930s. In the Second World War, Bill (1910–1985) served in North Africa and Italy with the Eighth Army. He founded the firm of lawyers of Seifert and Sedley in the 1940s with Sigmund Seifert, and was a lifelong Communist. Stephen himself joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1958, and left in the early 1980s. He was an unsuccessful Communist candidate for the Camden ward on Camden London Borough Council at the 1974 local elections. Sedley was described as a "former member" of the party by The Daily Telegraph in 2007. Sir Stephen's younger brother is Professor David Sedley.
Stephen Sedley attended Mill Hill School, followed by Queens' College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1961.
After graduation, Sedley worked as a musician and translator from 1961 to 1964. Sedley was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1964 and practised in Cloisters chambers with John Platts-Mills, David Turner-Samuels and Michael Mansfield.
Sedley had a particular interest in the development of administrative law (the judicial review of governmental and administrative decision making). He was involved in cases which broadened the scope of judicial review and established the modern procedure for judicial review, and in ground-breaking cases in relation to employment rights, sex and race discrimination, prisoners' rights, coroners' inquests, immigration and asylum and freedom of speech. He was counsel in many high-profile cases and inquiries, from the death of Blair Peach and the Carl Bridgewater murder appeal to the Helen Smith inquest and the contempt hearing against Kenneth Baker, then Home Secretary.
In 1976, Sedley attended, as one of a group of observers, the "Luanda Trial", sometimes called "the Mercenaries' Trial", held by the then recently-victorious MPLA government in Luanda, Angola.
He became a QC in 1983. He was appointed a High Court judge in 1992, serving in the Queen's Bench Division. In 1999 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal as a Lord Justice of Appeal. He was a Judge ad hoc of the European Court of Human Rights and a Member ad hoc of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His retirement from the Court of Appeal in 2011 coincided with the publication of a collection of his essays and lectures.
In September 2017, Sedley appeared at the launch of Jewish Voice for Labour, described by activist Jonathan Rosenhead as "a new organisation for Labour Party Jews who don't want to buy into the Jewish Labour Movement's pro-Zionist agenda". Sedley spoke on the subject of "Free Speech, Antisemitism and criticism of Israel".
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