Murray Stuart-Smith

Sir Murray Stuart-Smith, KCMG, PC (18 November 1927 – 21 January 2025) was an English barrister and Appeal Court judge. His 1997 re-examination of Lord Taylor's report into the Hillsborough disaster is seen today as a "debacle". Falconer added: "It made the families in the Hillsborough disaster feel after one establishment cover-up, here was another."

Criminologist Professor Phil Scraton has remained highly critical of the Stuart-Smith scrutiny, describing it as a "debacle". Speaking in October 2012, Scraton said the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel – which disclosed that 41 of the 96 who died had the potential to survive had there been a more effective response to the emergency – showed "just how wrong he (LJ Stuart-Smith) was."

Later career Stuart-Smith served as the President of the Gibraltarian Court of Appeal. In the 2012 Birthday Honours he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for services to justice in Gibraltar.

Judgments Notable judicial decisions of Stuart-Smith include:

Johnstone v Bloomsbury HA QB 333, 2 WLR 1362, 2 All ER 293, an English contract law case, concerning implied terms and unfair terms under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. Midland Bank plc v Cooke 4 All ER 562, constructive trusts. Smith v Lloyds TSB Group plc QB 541, liability of a bank on a forged cheque. , another case on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. , part payments of debt. Barry v Davies (Trading As Heathcote Ball & Co) 1 WLR 1962, CA

Personal life and death Sir Murray was the father of Jeremy Stuart-Smith, also an Appeal Court judge, and the landscape architect and garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith.

Stuart-Smith died on 21 January 2025, at the age of 97.

Arms

Footnotes