Decreed marital rape an offence
THE RT Hon Lord Simon Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood became a distinguishing force in British law, applying temperance and compassion in his deliberations. Among colleagues, his wit and wise counsel were frequently sought out.
After being called to the Bar in 1961, he became a High Court Judge in 1984, a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1992 and a Law Lord in 2004. In 2009, he became one of the Supreme Court’s inaugural Justices, serving for three years.
After his judicial retirement, he spent 11 years as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
During one debate, he spoke of his pride at being the first judge to challenge marital exemption in rape, during a case involving a husband and wife at Sheffield Crown Court. His judgment countered common law rulings from 300 years previously but his decision was upheld by the higher courts and marital rape became a legal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Simon Denis Brown was born in Sheffield to Denis, who ran a chain of jewellery shops in the North Midlands, and his wife Elizabeth (née Abrahams), the youngest of two sons.
He was raised by his mother in Nottingham in his formative years after his father was posted to fight in Burma.
Following his education at Stowe School, he read history at Worcester College, Oxford, but switched to law after completing his National Service with the Royal Artillery.
Away from the law, Lord Brown was a keen golfer and his first volume of memoirs, Playing Off The Roof And Other Stories, recalled an occasion when he played a pitch shot on to the green from the roof of the clubhouse at Denham Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.
Two later volumes of memoirs were entitled: Second Helpings and Last Scrapings.
Married to Jennifer Buddicom in 1963, he is survived by her and their children, two sons and a daughter. His cause of death has not been revealed.