Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf

Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf, PC ( born May 2, 1933, Newcastle) was dated June 6, 2000 to October 1, 2005 the reigning Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Successor in office is Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers. The constitutional reform made ​​him the first Lord Chief Justice, who is also President of the Courts of England and Wales, and therefore the most senior judge, instead of the Lord Chancellor.

Life and career

As the son of a builder and architect Woolf attended Fettes College in Edinburgh and studied law at the University of London. It was built in 1954 and 1979 Barrister High Court judge, he was Lord Justice in 1992, on 4 June 1996 he was until June 6, 2000 Master of the Rolls. On the same day he followed Baron Bingham of Cornhill after as Lord Chief Justice. He was raised as Baron Woolf in the non-hereditary peerage for life (life peer ) 1992. He sits in the House of Lords as a cross Bencher.

Official guide

Woolf took in his work does not mince words. In 2004, he said in a speech at the University of Cambridge against the British constitutional reform 2005, creating a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom will be installed in place of the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal, which, strictly speaking, the Lord Chancellor and the government may decide future constitutional reforms.

Woolf was chairman of the Committee for the reform of civil law, and removed many of the Latin names of the English law, to make it easier and more accessible. The English Civil Procedure of 1998 is a direct result of his work.

Woolf is one of the supporters of a British prison reform.