the government to review its policy of indefinite detention of terror suspects and led to the equally controversial Terrorism Bill 2005. His judicial work in the House of Lords has been instrumental in weaving the Human Rights Act 1998 into the fabric of English law. He also drew upon his background as a commercial lawyer. His Hart Lecture of May 2000 was influential in its criticism of Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart [1992] UKHL 3, a landmark decision of the House of Lords on the use of legislative history in statutory interpretation. He was one of the few senior judges to support calls for modernisation of the English legal system and abolition of the role of Lord Chancellor. While a Lord of Appeal he refrained from speaking in the House, instead expressing his views on democracy and human rights through judgments and lectures. He retired as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary on 30 September 2005. Jonathan Mance was elevated from Lord Justice of Appeal on 1 October 2005 to replace him. Since his retirement he was for a period the chairman of the human rights organisation JUSTICE and was vocal in his criticism of Tony Blair's government and its approach to human rights. He had expressed grave misgivings over the proposed powers to allow detention without trial and about the use of existing anti-terror powers. Death On 10th October 2021 as part of the traditional 'Wigs and Mitres Service' lecture at Lincoln's Inn Chapel his ashes were interred there. Famous judgments R v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust Ex p. L [1999] 1 AC 458 R (Jackson) v Attorney General [2006] 1 AC 262 - controversial comments on parliamentary supremacy and its common law foundations (and the possibility for the courts to invalidate unconstitutional statutes) MacLean v Arklow Investments Ltd [2000] 1 WLR 594 (Privy Council) Barclays Bank plc v Quincecare Ltd [1992] 4 All ER 363 References External links Profile in The Guardian 1932 births 2017 deaths Afrikaner people English King's Counsel South African Rhodes Scholars Law lords Crossbench life peers South African members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Alumni of University College, Oxford 20th-century King's Counsel Stellenbosch University alumni South African members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council South African Knights Bachelor South African Senior Counsel South African emigrants to the United Kingdom White South African anti-apartheid activists 20th-century