Sir John Wood
High Court judge who took on the Lord Chancellor and won an MC for gallantry during the war
SIR JOHN WOOD, who has died aged 94, was a former High Court judge and President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, in which capacity he came out best during a run-in over judicial independence with the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay.
As a judge in the Family Division in the 1980s, Wood was known for getting to the heart of the case while mastering the detail on the way. This period preceded the Children Act of 1989 – which formally established the duties of all parties to give children’s safety and welfare the highest priority – and was a time of complex family situations and great social change.
At the end of his time with the Family Division, Wood was asked by the Lord Chief Justice, Geoffrey Lane, to take up what he (the LCJ) called a “stinking job” as President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). Employment Law, which was complex and evolving rapidly under the influence of legislation from Westminster and Brussels, was highly political.
In employment appeals, to assist in understanding the realities at stake, Wood was notable for using what he called the “common sense of the lay members” (not judges or lawyers, but individuals with specialist knowledge, often appointed from the CBI and TUC).
Under the EAT, when it was first appointed, there was a cap of £5,000 on awards that could be made. Wood argued for an increase up to £25,000 in order to enable people without substantial personal savings or union support to contemplate an appeal. The government quickly removed the cap altogether.
Unsurprisingly, the prospect of unlimited awards encouraged increasing numbers of applicants, many of whom were litigants in person who had no legal advice. The growing backlog led the Lord Chancellor to ask Wood to review appeals on paper on his own and to reject them where there was no point of law. Wood resisted because, under the law, the appellant had the right to have his case considered by a full tribunal, not a judge sitting alone.
Eventually, the Lord Chancellor wrote to Wood inviting him to “consider his position”. This was interpreted by Wood and a number of senior colleagues as an attempt to put pressure on the judiciary to apply the law to suit the convenience of the executive. The upshot, in April 1994, was a four-hour debate about the dispute and the independence of the judiciary in the House of Lords. It concluded with an apology to Wood from the Lord Chancellor.
John Kember Wood was born on August 8 1922 in Hong Kong, the only child of the Deputy Chief Justice of Hong Kong, John Roskruge Wood, and his wife, Frances (née Kember), a trained governess. Aged eight, he was sent to preparatory school in England and then to Shrewsbury. He secured a place at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before joining up. During the war, his father wrote regularly to the College confirming that his son was still alive and asking them to make sure that his place was kept open for him.
Wood joined the Rifle Brigade in August 1941 and was commissioned in May 1942, passing out top of his OCTU intake. Sent on commando training at Lochailort, he passed out with an alpha grade and an invitation to stay on as an instructor.
His overseas wartime service started in North Africa. It included an adventure carrying gold bullion from Beirut to Aleppo for the Treasury and continued in Italy, a country to which he formed a long-lasting attachment. He was taken prisoner, having been one of two officers left standing at the end of the 2nd Battalion’s brave but unsuccessful attempt to capture the village of Tossignano from the recently reinforced German defenders.
The two had to make the difficult decision to surrender when the house in which they were based was blown up. He always acknowledged that the German soldiers helped them to dig out their wounded comrades. Having spent some very cold and hungry months as a PoW, he could never look root vegetables in the eye for the rest of his life.
He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in Italy during the period May to August 1944. The citation refers to “Dressing the wounds of those injured in the open under continuous shell fire... coolness and cheerfulness in unpleasant circumstances... daring patrols into enemy lines... initiative and untiring efforts which set a fine example to the members of his platoon, whose achievements have subsequently been of the highest order.”
He took the two-year shortened law course at Cambridge and was called to the Bar in 1949. He married in 1952 (Kathleen) Ann Lowe who remained his best friend and sounding board throughout his life.
His career as a lawyer started from modest beginnings. He earned fees of one or two guineas a time and built up a growing practice in commercial and family law.
As a barrister, he was the advocate who persuaded the House of Lords in Anns vs Merton Borough Council, that local authorities should be held accountable for professional negligence by their employees. The case caused considerable anxiety in the insurance markets at the time.
Life at the bar could be exciting. On one occasion, he was struck a glancing blow by a dissatisfied litigant (not his own client) who had failed in his attempt to get damages for an industrial injury. He had alleged that both his arms had been disabled. Wood became Head of Chambers at 1 Crown Office Row and introduced a number of innovations, such as the use of telex machines and set a trend for the Bar in general.
He took Silk in 1969 and was appointed a High Court Judge in 1977 and knighted the same year. He served in the Family Division until 1988, on the Parole Board, and as President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal from 1988 to 1993.
In retirement, his wife Ann introduced him to fishing and they spent happy days on the River Anton. He continued to chat to people from all walks of life – bus drivers, waiters, those next to him in the hospital queue and, on one occasion, he recommended his barber to Boris Johnson. He sold poppies into his nineties and never stopped taking an interest in and encouraging the young.
He faced his diagnosis of cancer a year ago with typical fortitude and determination to beat the odds. Only a few days before his death, he wanted to know the details of the Supreme Court decision on Article 50 (Brexit).
Sir John Wood is survived by his wife, Ann, and their son and daughter. Sir John Wood, born August 8 1922, died January 27 2017