Lord Bridge

Lord Bridge of Harwich was an English judge. He served as a High Court Judge between 1968-1975, a Lord Justice of Appeal between 1975-1980 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary between 1980-1992. Lord Bridge died in 2007, aged 90.

Lord Bridge was conscripted into the army in 1940, he developed a reputation as an advocate in Court Martials despite a lack of legal experience or education. After he was demobilized in 1946, he took the bar exams and managed to attain first place in the exams and was called to the bar (Inner Temple) in 1947. He became a High Court Judge appointed to the Queen's Bench Division in 1968 and became the Presiding Judge of the Western Circuit in 1972. In 1975, Bridge presided over the first trial of the Birmingham Six which was later to be regarded as one of the greatest known miscarriages of justice in English legal history. In the same year he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and in 1980 became a Law Lord. He was retired in 1992, despite protestations, aged 75.

Lord Bridge is notable as one of very few senior judges to have no university degree, having passed the bar exams despite never having studied law at university. He achieved a BSc from the Open University in 2006, aged 86.

Judgements
As a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary:
 * R v Steer [1988] AC 111