The legal life of Lord MacDermott

Abstract

Few figures have left a deeper imprint on the legal history of Northern Ireland than John Clarke MacDermott (1896–1979) and yet his career has never been the subject of a legally comprehensive study. This article offers that study, drawing on reported judgments, publicly archived papers, academic commentaries, and a small set of privately archived materials belonging to the MacDermott family. The analysis is largely chronological and selectively contextual, aiming to present a clear and accessible account of MacDermott’s legal life without attempting an exhaustive social history. It traces his formation at the Bar and in wartime office, illuminates his early judicial craft in the High Court, and then assesses his distinctive independence as a post-war appellate court judge in the House of Lords. The study also covers his Privy Council work on constitutional law, which foreshadowed later encounters with emergency powers at home.

As Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, MacDermott was involved in a very high number of reported cases. His court docket’s emphasis on customs, charities, taxation and wills, and the then-limited scope of judicial review, contrasts sharply with the dockets of more recent times. Alongside an analysis of this work in the superior courts of Northern Ireland there is a quantitative and qualitative account of MacDermott’s continuing contributions to the House of Lords on an ad hoc basis. The article further examines his extra-judicial voice, including through his Hamlyn Lectures on ‘protection from power’; his inaugural ‘MacDermott lecture’, and several previously unpublished speeches. It also examines his institutional reform work (ranging from a report that shaped the Judicature (NI) Act 1978 to constitutional advice on the governance of the Isle of Man) and his publicly recorded interventions during the Troubles, including nuanced reservations about detention and rights proposals. The conclusion argues that ‘unpredictability’ best captures Lord MacDermott’s career path and jurisprudence. His legal life was far from programmatic, but marked by clarity, candour and a readiness to stand apart when important principles were at stake.