Murray Stuart-Smith

Stuart-Smith was educated at Radley College and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

Stuart-Smith was called to the bar by Gray's Inn in 1952 and was made a Bencher 1978. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1970, and as judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division) in 1981. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1987, and retired in 2000. He later served as President of the Court of Appeal of Gibraltar from 2007, and as Justice of the Court of Appeal of Bermuda from 2004.

In retirement Sir Murray was appointed to re-examine Lord Taylor's report into the Hillsborough disaster, together with the wider question of whether the inquest process had been satisfactory. Sir Murray broadly concluded that there were no problems with the way that the inquiry had been handled. Lord Falconer later stated "I am absolutely sure that Sir Murray Stuart-Smith came completely to the wrong conclusion".{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-15433324|title=Hillsborough inquiry by Blair government criticised|publisher=BBC News|date=25 October 2011}} Falconer added: "It made the families in the Hillsborough disaster feel after one establishment cover-up, here was another."

There was massive criticism of the Stuart-Smith inquiry, including outrage after the judge quipped during a meeting with families: “Have you got a few of your people or are they like the Liverpool fans, turn up at the last minute?”{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/jack-straw-says-i-wish-11263496|title=Jack Straw says "I wish I could turn the clock back" after failing to expose Hillsborough cover-up|publisher=Liverpool Echo|date=29 April 2016}}

Criminologist Professor Phil Scraton has remained highly critical of the Stuart-Smith scrutiny, describing it as a "debacle".{{cite book|last=Scraton|first=Phil|title=Hillsborough: The Truth|year=2009|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-84596-495-5}} Speaking in October 2012, Scraton said the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel – which disclosed that 41 of the 96 who died had the potential to survive had there been a more effective response to the emergency – showed "just how wrong he (LJ Stuart-Smith) was."{{cite web|title=Liverpool Echo|date=24 October 2012|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2012/10/24/the-hillsborough-files-part-three-professor-phil-scraton-on-how-the-campaign-for-justice-is-about-people-not-politics-100252-32090988/|accessdate=13 January 2013}}

Stuart-Smith served as the President of the Gibraltarian Court of Appeal. In the 2012 Birthday Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for services to justice in Gibraltar.{{london gazette|issue=60173|date=16 June 2012|page=3|supp=y}}

Notable judicial decisions of Stuart-Smith include:

• Johnstone v Bloomsbury HA [1992] QB 333, [1991] 2 WLR 1362, [1991] 2 All ER 293, an English contract law case, concerning implied terms and unfair terms under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
• Midland Bank plc v Cooke [1995] 4 All ER 562, constructive trusts.
• Smith v Lloyds TSB Group plc [2001] QB 541, liability of a bank on a forged cheque.
• {{Cite bailii|litigants=Stewart Gill Ltd v Horatio Myer & Co Ltd|year=1992|court=EWCA|div=Civ|num=6}}, another case on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
• {{cite bailii|litigants=Re Selectmove Ltd|year=1993|court=EWCA|division=Civ|num=8}}, part payments of debt.
• Barry v Davies (Trading As Heathcote Ball & Co) [2000] 1 WLR 1962, CA

Sir Murray was the father of Jeremy Stuart-Smith, also an Appeal Court judge, and the landscape architect and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith.{{Cite book|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-272538|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U272538|chapter=Stuart-Smith, Thomas Richard Stephen Peregrine, (Born 14 Feb. 1960), landscape architect; Director, Tom Stuart-Smith LTD, since 1998|title=Who's Who|year=2014}}

Stuart-Smith died on 21 January 2025, at the age of 97.{{cite news |title=Sir Murray Stuart-Smith |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/births-marriages-and-deaths-february-6th-2025-k550tlf3p |access-date=6 February 2025 |work=The Times |date=6 February 2025}}

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Category:1927 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Category:20th-century English judges

Category:Knights Bachelor

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:People educated at Radley College

Category:Lord justices of appeal

Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Category:Expatriate judges on the courts of Bermuda

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