Louis Blom-Cooper

Sir Louis Jacques Blom-Cooper (27 March 1926 – 19 September 2018) was an English author and lawyer specialising in public and administrative law.

Early life

Born in London, his parents were the grocer Alfred Blom-Cooper and Ellen Flesseman. Blom-Cooper and his family were Jewish. He did national service as a Captain in the East Yorkshire Regiment from 1944 to 1947. He was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1952. In 2002 modern testing of DNA from Hanratty's exhumed corpse convinced Court of Appeal judges that his guilt was proved "beyond doubt".

Hunter & Callaghan v Duckworth & Company and Blom-Cooper The 1997 book The Birmingham Six and Other Cases considered recent miscarriages of justice. It prompted an unsuccessful libel action in the Irish courts from Gerry Hunter and Hugh Callaghan.

Initially Blom-Cooper argued that the publication of the book in Ireland was outside of his control. When this failed, he relied on European Convention on Human Rights#Article 10—right to freedom of expression and the newly formulated defence of Qualified privilege—provided good practice was followed it was acceptable to get things wrong. Previously inaccuracy would have led to financial penalty. Despite this, solicitor Gareth Peirce accused Blom-Cooper of "shoddy research" and "total nonsense" in respect of the book.

Campaigner Blom-Cooper was involved in the foundation of Amnesty International in 1961, supporting Peter Benenson's idea for an appeal for amnesty for political prisoners. It was at Blom-Cooper's suggestion that Benenson wrote to David Astor, proprietor of the Observer to publicise the campaign. Blom-Cooper also took part in a small committee of individuals who helped carry through the appeal which led to Amnesty International.

He was also a Patron of Prisoners Abroad a registered charity which supports Britons who are held overseas, and was a trustee of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Clubs He was a member of the Athenaeum Club.

Author Blom-Cooper's published works include Bankruptcy in private international law (1955) The Law as Literature: An Anthology of Great Writing in and about the Law (1961) (as editor) The A6 murder, Regina v. James Hanratty: The semblance of truth (1963) The language of the law: An anthology of legal prose (1965) The Hanging Question: Essays on the Death Penalty (1969) Law and Morality (1976) The Case of Jason Mitchell- Report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry; Edited by Louis Blom-Cooper Occupational Therapy -An Emerging Profession in Health Care (1989) The Falling Shadow: One Patient's Mental Health Care 1978–1993 (1995) co-editors Elaine Murphy; Helen Hally The Birmingham Six and Other Cases (1997) Law and the Spirit of Inquiry : Essays in Honour of Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC (1999) co-editors Charles Blake, Gavin Drewry With Malice Aforethought: A Study of the Crime and Punishment for Homicide The Court of Appeal (2007) co-editors Suzanne Fullbrook;Charles Blake The Penalty of Imprisonment: Why 60 Per Cent of the Prison Population Should Not Be There (2008), Power of Persuasion: Essays by a Very Public Lawyer (2015) Public Inquiries: Wrong Route on Bloody Sunday (2017) Unreasoned Verdict: The Jury's Out (2019)