Vale Lord Bingham

13/09/2010

Lord Thomas Bingham, former senior law lord of the United Kingdom, died at his home in Wales on Saturday, 11 September (local time). Lord Bingham visited Sydney in December 2008, when he delivered an address on "The Role of a Charter of Rights in Promoting Dignity, Fairness and Good Government" in recognition of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill retired after eight years as senior law lord of the House of Lords in September 2008. Described recently by The Times as "the pre-eminent lawyer of his generation with a brilliant, incisive mind", Lord Bingham was a leading human rights jurist. His landmark rulings under the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK) and the European Convention on Human Rights have contributed significantly to promoting and protecting fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in the UK and beyond.

Lord Bingham took silk in 1972.� He was appointed a judge of the High Court in 1980 and promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1986.� He became master of the rolls in 1992 and then lord chief justice of England and Wales in 1996.

**13 September 2010 **