William John Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, (8 December 1907 – 14 October 1985) was an English barrister and judge who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary between 1968 and until his death in 1985. Appointed to the High Court of Justice in 1956 and the Court of Appeal five years later, Diplock made important contributions to the development of constitutional and public law as well as many other legal fields. A frequent choice for governmental inquiries, he is also remembered for proposing the creation of the eponymous juryless Diplock courts. Of him, Lord Rawlinson of Ewell wrote that "to his generation Diplock was the quintessential man of the law".

Kenneth Diplock was born in South Croydon, the son of solicitor William John Hubert Diplock and his wife Christine Joan (nee Brooke). He was educated at Whitgift School in Croydon and University College, Oxford, where he read chemistry, taking a Second in 1929. He was Secretary of the Oxford Union for a term in 1929. He later become an honorary fellow of University College in 1958.

Diplock was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1932. After two years in the chambers of Sir Valentine Holmes, KC, he transferred to the chambers of Sir Leslie Scott, KC. In 1939, he left legal practice for service in the Second World War; in 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force, in which he reached the rank of squadron leader. From 1939 to 1948, he was secretary to the Master of the Rolls, Lord Greene. He acquired a large practice in commercial work and in advisory work for Commonwealth governments. He was Recorder of Oxford from 1951 to 1956, and served on the Law Reform Committee.

In September 1985, Lord Diplock sat as a judge for the last time, in a special sitting of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council during the Long Vacation for an urgent civil case from Trinidad and Tobago. Severely ill from emphysema, Diplock came to court from the hospital in a wheelchair and with an oxygen cylinder.

At the time of his death, Lord Diplock was the longest serving law lord as well as the last serving superior judge to not be covered by the mandatory retirement age of 75 introduced by the Judicial Pensions Act 1959. His rulings, especially those on administrative law, are often considered as authoritative not only in England but across the Commonwealth and even in the United States, where he has been cited by the Second Circuit and Supreme Court.

Examples include Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1984] UKHL 9 or R (National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd) v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1982] AC 617, on grounds of review and locus standi respectively.

He also made important contributions to contract law.

  • Nemo judex (Bias rule)
  • Audi alteram partem (Hearing rule)
  • Illegality
  • Ultra vires
  • Simple ultra vires
  • Extended ultra vires
  • Procedural ultra vires
  • Fettering
  • Irrationality
  • Primary and Secondary Obligations

Notable judgments

High Court

  • Silkin v Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd [1958] 1 WLR 743

Court of Appeal

  • Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd [1962] 2 QB 26
  • Boulting v Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians [1963] 2 QB 606
  • BBC v Johns [1965] Ch 32
  • Letang v Cooper [1965] 1 QB 232
  • United Dominions Trust Ltd v Kirkwood [1966] 2 QB 431
  • R v Mowatt [1968] 1 QB 421

House of Lords

  • Pettitt v Pettitt [1970] AC 777
  • Dorset Yacht Co Ltd v Home Office [1970] AC 1004
  • Gissing v Gissing [1971] AC 886
  • Re Vandervell Trustees Ltd [1971] AC 912
  • American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] AC 396
  • Ayerst (Inspector of Taxes) v C&K (Construction) Ltd [1976] AC 167
  • Town Investments v Department of the Environment [1978] AC 359
  • DPP v Stonehouse [1978] AC 55, 68
  • Erven Warnink BV v J Townend & Sons (Hull) Ltd [1979] AC 731
  • Gibson v Manchester City Council [1979] 1 WLR 294
  • Whitehouse v Lemon; Whitehouse v Gay News Ltd [1979] AC 406, [1979] 2 WLR 281, [1979] 1 All ER 898
  • IRC v Burmah Oil Co. Ltd 1982 SC (HL) 114
  • Catnic Components Ltd v Hill & Smith Ltd [1982] RPC 183
  • Universe Tankships Inc. of Monrovia v. International Transport Workers' Federation [1983] 1 AC 366
  • R v Miller [1983] 2 AC 161
  • Cheall v APEX [1983] 2 AC 180
  • O'Reilly v Mackman [1983] 2 AC 237
  • R v Sullivan [1984] AC 156
  • Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 374
  • Harvela Investments Ltd v Royal Trust of Canada (CI) Ltd [1986] AC 207
  • R v Lawrence [1982] AC 510

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

  • Ong Ah Chuan v Public Prosecutor [1981] AC 648
  • Mitchell v DPP [1986] AC 73
  • Haw Tua Tau v. Public Prosecutor [1981] UKPC 23

Arms

See also

  • Judicial review in English law
  • Air New Zealand Flight 901

References

  • Report of the Commission to Consider Legal Procedures to deal with Terrorist Activities in Northern Ireland
  • Parliamentary Archives, Papers of William, Lord Diplock