View source for Alan Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry

{{short description|Scottish judge (1944–2011)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name           = The Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|country=GBR|PC|FBA|FRSE}}
|image          = Lord Roger of Earlsferry Independent.jpg
|office         = [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]]
|term_start     = 1 October 2009
|term_end       = 26 June 2011
|appointer      = [[Elizabeth II]]
|nominator      = [[Jack Straw]]
|predecessor    = Position established
|successor      = [[Lord Reed]]
|office1        = [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]]
|term_start1    = 1 October 2001
|term_end1      = 30 September 2009
|predecessor1   = [[James Clyde, Baron Clyde|The Lord Clyde]]
|successor1     = Position abolished
|office2        = [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session]]
|term_start2    = 1 October 1996
|term_end2      = 13 November 2002
|predecessor2   = [[The Lord Hope of Craighead]]
|successor2     = [[William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk|The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk]]
|office3        = [[Lord Advocate]]
|term_start3    = 15 April 1992
|term_end3      = 7 November 1995
|primeminister3 = [[John Major]]
|predecessor3   = [[Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie|The Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]]
|successor3     = [[Donald Mackay, Baron Mackay of Drumadoon|The Lord Mackay of Drumadoon]]
|office4        = [[Solicitor General for Scotland]]
|term_start4    = 14 January 1989
|term_end4      = 15 April 1992
|primeminister4 = [[Margaret Thatcher]]<br />[[John Major]]
|predecessor4   = [[Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie|Peter Fraser]]
|successor4     = [[Donald Mackay, Baron Mackay of Drumadoon|Donald Mackay]]
|birth_date     = {{Birth date|df=y|1944|9|18}}
|birth_place    = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
|death_date     = {{Death date and age|df=y|2011|6|26|1944|9|18}}
|death_place    = [[Clydebank]], Scotland
|restingplace   = 
|birthname      = Alan Ferguson Rodger
|nationality    = British
|spouse         = 
|relations      = [[Ferguson Rodger]] (father)
|residence      = 
|alma_mater     = [[University of Glasgow]]<br />[[New College, Oxford]]
|occupation     = Judge
|profession     = [[Faculty of Advocates|Advocate]]
}}
'''Alan Ferguson Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|FBA|FRSE}} (18 September 1944&nbsp;– 26 June 2011) was a Scottish academic, lawyer, and [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]].

He served as [[Lord Advocate]], the senior [[Law Officer]] of Scotland, before becoming [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session]], the head of the country's judiciary. He was then appointed a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] (Law Lord) and became a Justice of the Supreme Court when the [[judicial functions of the House of Lords]] were transferred to that Court.

==Early life and career==
Alan Rodger was born on 18 September 1944 in Glasgow, to Professor [[T Ferguson Rodger]], Professor of Psychological Medicine at the [[University of Glasgow]], and Jean Margaret Smith Chalmers, and educated at the [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private]] [[Kelvinside Academy]] in the city.<ref name="whoswho">{{cite web|title=RODGER OF EARLSFERRY|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U32978|work=[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=December 2008|access-date=20 June 2009}}</ref> He studied at the [[University of Glasgow]], graduating with an [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|MA]], and at the University's [[University of Glasgow School of Law|School of Law]], taking an [[LLB]].<ref name="whoswho"/> He then studied at [[New College, Oxford]]—under [[David Daube]], [[Regius Professor of Civil Law (Oxford)|Regius Professor of Civil Law]]—where he graduated with an [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|MA (by decree)]] and [[DPhil]], and was Dyke Junior Research Fellow at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], from 1969 to 1970 and a Fellow of New College from 1970 to 1972.<ref name="whoswho"/>

He became an advocate in 1974<ref name="GN">{{cite web|title=Rt Hon Lord Rodger of Earlsferry appointed an Honorary Professor|url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/archive/2009/july/headline_124594_en.html|publisher=[[University of Glasgow]]|date=2 July 2009|access-date=20 June 2009}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> and was Clerk of the [[Faculty of Advocates]] from 1976 to 1979. He was a Member of the [[Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland]] from 1981 to 1984, and was appointed [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1985.<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="GN"/> He was an [[Advocate Depute]] from 1985 to 1988 and was appointed [[Solicitor General for Scotland]] in 1989, being promoted to [[Lord Advocate]] in 1992, and was created a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Rodger of Earlsferry''', ''of [[Earlsferry]] in the [[North-East Fife (district)|District of North East Fife]]'' on 29 April 1992,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52911 |date=5 May 1982 |page=7756}}</ref> and was appointed to the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council]].<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="GN"/>

==Judicial career==
Rodger was appointed a [[Senator of the College of Justice]], a judge of the [[High Court of Justiciary]] and [[Court of Session]], in 1995,<ref name="herald-1995-11-09-judge" /> He became [[Lord Justice General]] and [[Lord President of the Court of Session|Lord President]] in 1996. He was appointed a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]] in 2001, upon the retirement of [[James Clyde, Baron Clyde|Lord Clyde]]. He and nine other Lords of Appeal in Ordinary became [[Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Justices]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Supreme Court]] upon that body's inauguration on 1 October 2009.<ref name = Johnston>{{cite ODNB|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/103857|title = Rodger, Alan Ferguson, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry (1944–2011), judge and jurist|last = Johnston|first = David|date = 2015}}</ref>

==Death==
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry died from a [[brain tumour]] at a hospice in [[Clydebank]] on 26 June 2011, at the age of 66.<ref name="death">{{cite news |title=Supreme Court judge Lord Rodger of Earlsferry dies |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13922675 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=26 June 2011 |access-date=27 June 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110627112923/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13922675| archive-date= 27 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name = Johnston/> Scottish First Minister [[Alex Salmond]], who provoked fury after criticising Rodger less than a month earlier,<ref>{{cite news |title=Alex Salmond provokes fury with attack on UK supreme court |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/01/alex-salmond-scotland-supreme-court |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=1 June 2011 |last=Carrell |first=Severin |access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref> said he had made an "outstanding contribution" to Scottish public life.<ref name="death" />

==Honours==
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry was elected a Fellow of the [[British Academy]] in 1991, and the same year was the Maccabaean Lecturer at the Academy. He was appointed a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], an Honorary [[Bencher]] at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1992, and an Honorary Bencher of the [[Bar of Northern Ireland|Inn of Court of Northern Ireland]] in 1998. He was appointed an Honorary Member of SPTL, subsequently SLS in 1992 and a Corresponding Member of Bayerische Akademy der Wissenschaften in 2001. He was President of the [[Holdsworth Club]] in 1998–99 and made an Honorary Fellow of the [[American College of Trial Lawyers]] in 2008. He received honorary degrees of [[Doctor of Laws]] (LLD) from the Universities of [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]] (1995), [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] (1999) and [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]] (2001).

Lord Rodger of Earlsferry had been the [[Visitor]] of [[St Hugh's College, Oxford]], since 2003,<ref>{{cite web|title=St Hugh's College – Law|url=http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-study/courses/law|access-date=20 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609091818/http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate-study/courses/law|archive-date=9 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[High Steward (academia)|High Steward]] of the University of Oxford since 2008,<ref>{{cite web|title=Oxford University Gazette: Notices: Appointment of High Steward|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2008-9/weekly/250908/notc.htm|date=25 September 2008|publisher=[[University of Oxford]]|access-date=20 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401230121/http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2008-9/weekly/250908/notc.htm|archive-date=1 April 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and an Honorary Professor at the [[University of Glasgow School of Law]] since July 2009.<ref name="GN" />

==Notable judgements==
'''As Lord Justice General'''
*[[Drury v HM Advocate|Drury v Her Majesty's Advocate]] 2001 SCCR 583 – definition of murder in Scotland

'''As Justice of the Supreme Court'''
*[[R (E) v Governing Body of JFS]] [2009] UKSC 15 – racial discrimination in religious school admissions (dissenting)
*[[HJ and HT v Home Secretary]] [2010] UKSC 31 – homosexuality in [[right of asylum|asylum]] claims

==References==
{{reflist
 | refs =

<ref name="herald-1995-11-09-judge">{{cite news
 | url = http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12063900.Lord_Advocate_becomes_a_judge/
 | title = Lord Advocate becomes a judge
 | newspaper = [[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]
 | location = Glasgow
 | date = 9 November 1995
 | access-date = 9 June 2016
}}</ref>

}} <!-- end of refs -->

==External links==
*[http://www.iuscivile.com/people/earlsferry/ Lord Rodger of Earlsferry: Tributes and Bibliography]

{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box | title=[[Solicitor General for Scotland]] | before=[[Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]] | after=[[Thomas Dawson, Lord Dawson|Lord Dawson]] | years=1989–1992}}

{{succession box | title=[[Lord Advocate]] | before=[[Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]] | after=[[Lord Mackay of Drumadoon]]  | years=1992–1995}}

{{succession box | title=[[Lord President of the Court of Session]] <br> and [[Lord Justice General]] | before=[[Lord Hope of Craighead]] | after=[[Lord Cullen of Whitekirk]]  | years=1996–2002}}

{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lord Bingham of Cornhill]] }}
{{s-ttl
 | title=[[High Steward (academia)|High Steward]] of the [[University of Oxford]]
 |years=2008–2011
}}
{{s-vac}}
{{s-end}}

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{{Supreme Court of the United Kingdom}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger of Earlsferry, Alan Rodger, Baron}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:Nobility from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Law lords|Rodger of Earlsferry]]
[[Category:People educated at Kelvinside Academy]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Solicitors general for Scotland]]
[[Category:Lord advocates]]
[[Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]
[[Category:Lords President of the Court of Session]]
[[Category:Lords Justice-General]]
[[Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Members of the Faculty of Advocates]]
[[Category:Scottish King's Counsel]]
[[Category:20th-century King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Senators of the College of Justice]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British legal historians]]
[[Category:Scholars of Roman law]]
[[Category:Scottish legal scholars]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Scotland]]