Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry

Robert Lynd Erskine Lowry, Baron Lowry PC (* thirtieth January 1919 in Belfast ; † 15. January 1999 in London ) was a British lawyer , who from 1971 to 1988 Chief Justice of Northern Ireland ( Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland ) and 1979 was became a member of the House of Lords on the basis of the Life Peerages Act 1958 and was last Lord Judge ( Lord of Appeal in Ordinary ) between 1988 and 1994 .

Life

Military service in World War II, lawyer and judge

Lowry was the son of lawyer William Lowry , who later as a representative of the Ulster Unionist Party member of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland , some interior minister and from 1944 to 1947 Attorney General ( Attorney General was) Northern Ireland. After attending the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, he himself completed a degree in Classical Classical Studies at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge , from which he graduated as the best in his class. During the Second World War he did his military service with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Tunisia , before he last served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers and was promoted to major there in 1945 .

After the end of the war he completed a law degree and was admitted to the bar in Northern Ireland in 1947. After several years as a lawyer, Lowry was appointed judge of the Northern Ireland High Court of Justice in 1964 and served there until 1971.

Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Member of the House of Lords and Lord Justice

1971 Lowry was to succeed John MacDermott Chief Justice of Northern Ireland ( Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland ) and this feature retained for seventeen years until his replacement by Brian Hutton in 1988. In 1971 he was first Privy Councilor Northern Ireland and in 1974 member of the British Privy Council . During his tenure, numerous court decisions were made that dealt with the disputes arising from the Northern Ireland conflict and with the laws in force at the time, such as the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 , which banned membership in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Cumann na mBan , Fianna Éireann , Saor Éire , Sinn Féin and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). At the same time, this 1973 emergency law abolished the death penalty and introduced the “Diplock Courts” named after Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock , which did not provide for a jury .

By a letters patent dated July 18, 1979, Lowry was appointed to the nobility as Baron Lowry , of Crossgar in the County of Down, under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and thus a member of the House of Lords. In 1983 he was the presiding judge in the so-called "Supergrass" trial, in which former IRA member Kevin McGrady testified against former comrades, which led to the conviction of seven of the ten IRA fighters charged. In the following years there were several attacks on Baron Lowry by the IRA.

After completing his work as Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, he became Lord Judge ( Lord of Appeal in Ordinary ) on August 5, 1988 and held this judge's office until his retirement on January 7, 1994.

Web links

• Robert Lowry at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Lords of Appeal in Ordinary 1876-2009 in Peerages