Peter Taylor Baron Taylor of Gosforth: Encyclopedia II - Peter Taylor Baron Taylor of Gosforth - Judge

Peter Taylor Baron Taylor of Gosforth - Judge

Taylor had been first appointed a Recorder (part-time Judge) in 1969 and served as a Recorder in the Crown Court from 1972. After serving as Chairman of the Bar Council for 1979-80, he was made a full High Court Judge on the Queen's Bench Division (following a tradition, since abandoned, that the Bar Chairman receive such an appointment). One of his first cases saw him give Bromley London Borough Council permission to challenge the Greater London Council's "Fare's Fair" policy of lowering public transport fares. In 1983 Taylor held that a Pakistani man who had pronounced Talaq and notified the authorities in Pakistan had not divorced his wife according to English law.

In 1984, Taylor largely sided with Mary Whitehouse who brought a case against the Independent Broadcasting Authority over the television film "Scum"; he said the Director-General of the IBA had made "a grave error of judgment" in allowing the film to be shown. The next year, he held that Nottinghamshire police had acted negligently in firing CS gas into a house knowing there would be a fire risk and not having fire engines on standby. In 1987 he stated that he did not accept that a Judge could not inquire further when a Minister raised a justification of 'national security' for their actions (the case concerned the telephone tapping of Joan Ruddock).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Judge", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki