Sir Mark Potter, The President of the Family Division, today paid tribute to a former President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, Sir Jocelyn Simon, later Lord Simon of Glaisdale, who died upon Sunday 7 May aged 95.
Sir Mark expressed regret on behalf of all of the judges of the Family Division a number of whom, including himself, appeared as counsel before the former President. Sir Mark described him as the last of the breed of judges promoted to the Bench after a highly successful political career, praising his qualities of warmth and scholarship as well as his deep feelings for the law.
A great believer in the sanctity of marriage and an opponent of divorce by consent, Jack Simon (as he was universally and affectionately known) nonetheless applied the law as it existed with unrivalled warmth, humanity and understanding. Following his highly successful presidency of the Family Division between 1962 and 1971, he was promoted to the House of Lords, where the breadth of his legal knowledge and his previous experience of the politico-legal framework of our constitution leant great authority to his contributions to the decisions of the House of Lords until his retirement at the comparatively early age of 66. Thereafter, he played an active part in debates in the House of Lords on measures of constitutional importance until his final appearance to vote in support of the Constitutional Reform Bill at the age of 93.
A tribute from the President will appear as an obituary in the Independent Newspaper tomorrow, Tuesday 9 May.
