Lord Sumption

Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal 7 cases

Lord Sumption has 7 reported Hong Kong decisions (2020–2023) in the HKCFA.

About Lord Sumption

Lord Sumption has 7 reported Hong Kong decisions (2020–2023). These were decided across HKCFA (7). By subject matter, the largest shares are Basic Law (2), Crimes Ordinance (1) and Criminal Procedure Ordinance (1). Of these, 7 sitting on the coram.

Source: derived from 7 published Hong Kong judgments, most recent decision 18 August 2023. Published on HKLII.

On the judicial record

Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, is a British barrister, author and medieval historian who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, appointed directly from the practising bar without prior full-time judicial service. He was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal on 13 December 2019 by then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. His reported Hong Kong record spans 2020 to 2023, concentrated in criminal law together with judicial review and immigration and public order and protest matters.

Reported decisions include PT ASURANSI TUGU PRATAMA INDONESIA TBK V. CITIBANK N.A., heard at [2023] HKCFA 3 and [2023] HKCFA 25, and Q V. COMMISSIONER OF REGISTRATION [2023] HKCFA 4. Public-law and criminal matters include KWOK CHEUK KIN V. DIRECTOR OF LANDS AND OTHERS V. HEUNG YEE KUK (INTERESTED PARTY) [2021] HKCFA 38, HKSAR V. LO KIN MAN (盧建民) (and 1 other) [2021] HKCFA 37, HKSAR V. TONG WAI HUNG (湯偉雄) [2021] HKCFA 46, and ETON PROPERTIES LIMITED AND ANOTHER V. 廈門新景地集團有限公司 [2020] HKCFA 39.

Biography

Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, (born 9 December 1948), is a British author, medieval historian, barrister and former senior judge who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018 and on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal between 2019 and 2024. Sumption was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on 11 January 2012, succeeding Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury. Exceptionally, he was appointed to the Supreme Court directly from the practising bar, without having been a full-time judge. He retired from the Supreme Court on 9 December 2018 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Sumption is well known for his role as a barrister in many legal cases. They include appearances in the Hutton Inquiry on HM Government's behalf, in the Three Rivers case, his representation of former Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers and the Department for Transport in the Railtrack private shareholders' action against the British Government in 2005, for defending HM Government in an appeal hearing brought by Binyam Mohamed, and for successfully defending Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in a private lawsuit brought by Boris Berezovsky. A former academic, Sumption wrote a substantial narrative history of the Hundred Years' War in five volumes. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). In 2019, he was appointed a Fellow of the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet (FWS).

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Career Highlights

• Sumption was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on 11 January 2012, succeeding Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury.
• Exceptionally, he was appointed to the Supreme Court directly from the practising bar, without having been a full-time judge.
• He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).
• In 2019, he was appointed a Fellow of the Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet (FWS).
• In the 1970s, Sumption served as an adviser to the Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister Sir Keith Joseph.
• In 1974, Joseph and Margaret Thatcher together founded the Centre for Policy Studies to act as a think tank for the Conservative Party, and Sumption became one of its earliest employees, working as a speechwriter for Joseph.
• He was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1986 at the relatively young age of 38, and elected a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1991.
• He has served as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Chancery Division, and a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Jersey and the Guernsey Court of Appeal.
• In 2005, Sumption became joint head of Brick Court Chambers.
• Byers became the only former Cabinet Minister to be cross-examined in the High Court in relation to his actions in modern times: the British Government won the case.
• Sumption is the first lawyer appointed to the Supreme Court without previously serving as a full-time judge since its inception in 2009.
• On 13 December 2019, Sumption was appointed as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

Education

• hold a peerage title, are accorded the style of "lord" for life)
• bar at the Inner Temple in 1975, he then pursued a successful legal practice in commercial law
• College, where at 15 he was at the bottom of his class
• College, Oxford, from 1967 to 1970, graduating with a first
• College, teaching and writing books on medieval history from 1971 to 1975 before leaving to pursue a career in law
• Inner Temple in 1991

Total cases

Delivered

Sat on (coram)

Court

How many cases has Lord Sumption decided?

Lord Sumption has 7 reported Hong Kong decisions (2020–2023).

Which courts does Lord Sumption sit in?

Lord Sumption sits in HKCFA (7).

What is Lord Sumption's judicial background before Hong Kong?

Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, appointed directly from the practising bar without having served as a full-time judge; he was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal on 13 December 2019.

What subject areas has Lord Sumption heard on the Court of Final Appeal?

His reported Hong Kong record, spanning 2020 to 2023, is concentrated in criminal law together with judicial review and immigration and public order and protest matters, including KWOK CHEUK KIN V. DIRECTOR OF LANDS AND OTHERS [2021] HKCFA 38.