John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey GBE PC KGStJ (26 October 1866 – 6 February 1948) was a prominent British politician, famous for many of his judgments in the House of Lords. Sankey was educated at Lancing College, Sussex and Jesus College, Oxford, graduating with a second-class BA in Modern History in 1889 and a third-class Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1891. He became a barrister in the Middle Temple in 1892.[1] Sankey became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1928 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Sankey in 1929; that year, he was appointed Lord Chancellor under Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government. He was one of the few Labour politicians to follow MacDonald into the National Government in 1931, and served as Lord Chancellor until 1935, when Stanley Baldwin re-entered office. Several of his judgments in the House of Lords have become landmark statements of law. Of particular note are his statements in Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) (often referred to as the Persons Case) which dealt with the eligibility of women to be appointed to the Canadian Senate. In his decision, Sankey set out the living tree doctrine of constitutional interpretation that has become a foundation of Canadian constitutional law. Viscount Sankey's judgment in Woolmington v DPP [1935] AC 462 is famous for iterating the duty inherent on the Prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In pertinent part, his judgment stated:
Throughout the web of the English criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen - that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception...
This judgment is usually referred to as the 'golden thread'. A house at his former school Lancing College is named after him.
References
- ^ Stevens, Robert (2004). Sankey, John, Viscount Sankey (1866–1948). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
| Preceded by The Lord Hailsham |
Lord Chancellor 1929–1935 |
Succeeded by The Lord Hailsham |
