David Yale

Coat of arms of David Yale's grandfather, Col. James Corbet Yale of Plas-yn-Yale, their ancestral seat David Eryl Corbet Yale, , Hon. QC (31 March 1928 – 26 June 2021) was a scholar in the history of English law. He became Queen's Counsel at the same time as Nelson Mandela, and became president of the Selden Society. He was also a reader in English legal history at Cambridge University from 1969 to 1993, and a life fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge from 1950 until his death.

Early life

The son of Lt. Col. John Corbet Yale of the British Hong Kong Garrison and Beatrice Breese, David Yale was raised in British India and educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied law. His maternal grandfather was Major Charles Breese (MP), Parliamentary Private Secretary to H. A. L. Fisher, the brother-in-law of Sir Francis Darwin, son of Charles Darwin. His grandfather's family included MP David Williams of Castell Deudraeth, Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet, the constable of Harlech Castle, and Dr. Leonard Williams.

His paternal grandfather, Colonel James Corbet Yale, son of Deputy Lieutenant William Corbet Yale, commanded the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, lived at Plas yn Yale, Wales, and was a member of the family of Lt. Gen. Sir Love Parry Jones-Parry and Maj. Gen. Clapham of Widcombe Manor. He inherited Plas-yn-Yale from the line of Rev. John Yale of Cambridge University. David Yale was a member of the Yale family of Wales, who were historically the proprietors of the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale in North East Wales.

In 1961, while on his first sabbatical leave, he spent a year in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife Elizabeth Ann Brett. He went to Yale University as a visiting professor, where he had been invited by the Dean of Yale Law School, Eugene V. Rostow, later Under Secretary of State for President Lyndon B. Johnson. He became Editor of the Cambridge Law Journal in 1974, replacing Jack Hamson, and chairman of the Faculty of Law in 1976. The Queen had to confer a special permission to the House of Lords for Mandela to receive his honorary Queen's Counsel as he wasn't a senior barrister in Britain.