Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett

William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett, PC ( born September 6, 1883 in Ulverston, Lancashire, † February 10, 1962 ) was a British lawyer, politician and Deputy British judge at the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trial of the major war criminals.

Life

Birkett first attended the Grammar School in Barrow -in- Furness, before he studied law in Cambridge at Emmanuel College. Since 1913 he worked as a barrister, which he specialized in criminal defense. In 1923 he received the title of Kronanwaltes.

1920 married Birkett Ruth Nielsen, with whom he had two sons.

As a Liberal, he was 1923/24, and in 1929-31 a member of the House of Commons over the years. 1941 Birkett was not uncommon for a judge appointed in the United Kingdom, after it had become in 1939 the chairman of a committee, which oversaw the internment of suspected British citizen. In this capacity, he acquired considerable experience in process due to war-related offenses such as espionage.

Based on this experience Birkett was chosen among more senior colleagues as override various British judge for the Nuremberg trials. From the initial ideas, to make him a British senior judges, the Government adopted because of its relatively limited professional experience as a judge distance again. He was deputy to Geoffrey Lawrence and was in discussions - despite the absence of voting rights - big impact. Unlike Lawrence Birkett did not receive a title of nobility for his work in the processes, which he was dissatisfied. He was, however, included in the Privy Council and appointed Lord Justice of Appeal 1950. Seven years later he retired. The following year, he was raised as Baron Birkett to the peer.

Birkett died on 10 February 1962.