Sir Gerald Gordon: Biographical Note

Sir Gerald has been one of the most influential figures in Scottish criminal law and procedure in the last century. He was Professor of Scots Law at Edinburgh University from 1972 until 1976. His work The Criminal Law of Scotland, one of the first volumes to be published in the prestigious Scottish Universities Law Institute series in 1967, is now in its third edition and is regarded as the leading source on Scots criminal law by the courts (where it is frequently cited) and academics alike. Sir Gerald is the editor of the Scottish Criminal Case Reports and of Renton and Brown’s Criminal Procedure According to the Law of Scotland. He was a sheriff from 1976 to 1999 and a temporary High Court Judge until 2004. He was a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission from its inception in 1999 until 2009. He was knighted in 1999, having previously been made a CBE, and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2002. At the time when this note was prepared (in 2009) the Society had only 67 honorary fellows (“persons eminently distinguished in any subject within the disciplinary domains of the Society”), and Sir Gerald was believed to be the only lawyer to hold this distinction.

The following bibliography of Sir Gerald Gordon's work was compiled by Shona Wilson and was published in the Festschrift honouring Sir Gerald.

1956

"The evidence of spouses in criminal trials" 1956 SLT (News) 145

1957

"New evidence in criminal appeals" 1957 SLT (News) 125

1958

"Suicide pacts" 1958 SLT (News) 209

1960

Criminal Responsibility in Scots Law, unpublished PhD thesis (University of Glasgow)

1961

Book Review: J C Smith (ed.), Criminal Case and Comment (1960) 1961 SLT (News) 48

1965

Book Review: Johannes Andenaes, The General Part of the Criminal Law of Norway (1965) 1965 SLT (News) 135

Book Review: G O W Mueller and E M Wise (eds), International Criminal Law (1965) 1965 SLT (News) 143

1966

"Crimes without laws?"1966 JR 214

Book Review: T R Fitzwalter Butler and Marston Garsia, Archbold: Pleading, Evidence and Practice in Criminal Cases (36th edn, 1966) 1966 SLT (News) 187

1967

The Criminal Law of Scotland (Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd / Scottish Universities Law Institute)

"Criminal Justice Bill 1966" 1967 SLT (News) 21 (with N H A)

Book Review: R M Jackson, Enforcing the Law (1967) 1967 SLT (News) 72

"The mens rea of murder" 1967 SLT (News) 89

"Random thoughts on the Criminal Law Act 1967" 1967 SLT (News) 205

1968

"The burden of proof on the accused" 1968 SLT (News) 29, 37

Letter to the Editor: "Rogues and vagabonds" 1968 SLT (News) 87

"Social Work (Scotland) Bill 1968" 1968 SLT (News) 89

Book Review: H L A Hart, Punishment and Responsibility: Essays in the Philosophy of Law (1968) 1968 SLT (News) 96

Book Review: Ian Brownlie, The Law Relating to Public Order (1968) 1968 SLT (News) 120

Letter to the Editor: "Attempt to take and drive away" 1968 SLT (News) 128

Book Review: Meyer H. Parry, Aggression on the Road (1968) 1968 SLT (News) 146

"Institution of criminal proceedings in Scotland" (1968) 19 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 249

1969

"Cawthorne and the mens reaof murder" 1969 SLT (News) 41

1970

"Plea bargaining" 1970 SLT (News) 153

"Recent developments in criminal law" (1970) 15 JLSS 91

1971

Book Review: Nigel Walker, Crimes, Courts and Figures: An Introduction to Criminal Statistics (1971) 1971 SLT (News) 168

"Retrials in criminal cases" 1971 SLT (News) 169

"Tesco v Nattrass – the vicarious responsibility of a company" 1971 SLT (News) 189

"The mental element in crime" (1971) 16 JLSS 282

1972

R W Renton and H H Brown, Criminal Procedure According to the Law of Scotland (4th edn by G H Gordon, Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd).

1973

Book Review: J C Smith and Brian Hogan, Smith and Hogan’s Criminal Law (3rd edn, 1973) 1973 SLT (News) 256

"Prosecuting children: an assessment of the situation in the light of the 1968 Act" (1973) 18 JLSS 346

1974

"The breathalyser in Scotland" [1974] Crim LR 165, 209

"Fundamental nullity and the power of amendment" 1974 SLT (News) 154

"Subjective and objective mens rea" (1974-1975) 17 Criminal Law Quarterly 355

"Lindie v HM Advocate: a procedural potpourri" (1974) 19 JLSS 5, 33

"Another attempt at the impossible: R v Smith (Roger)" (1974) 19 JLSS 246

1975

"English criminal law: two recent developments" (1975) 20 JLSS 4

1976

"Consent in assault: further thoughts" (1976) 21 JLSS 168

"Automatism, insanity and intoxication: are unconscious acts defensible?" (1976) 21 JLSS 310

Book Review: Alf Ross, On Guilt, Responsibility and Punishment (1975) (1976) 26 University of Toronto Law Journal 215

"Mentally abnormal offenders: The Report of the Butler Committee" 1976 SLT (News) 77

Book Review: S. Mitchell, Archbold’s Pleading, Evidence and Practice in Criminal Cases (3rd edn, 1976) 1976 SLT (News) 263

1978

The Criminal Law of Scotland (2nd edn, Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd / Scottish Universities Law Institute)

"The admissibility of answers to police questioning in Scotland", in P R Glazebrook (ed.), Reshaping the Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of Glanville Williams

1980

"Shameless indecency and obscenity: an analysis" (1980) 25 JLSS 262

1981

The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 (Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd)

1981-present date

Scottish Criminal Case Reports (Edinburgh: The Law Society of Scotland) [Sir Gerald has been the editor of the Scottish Criminal Case Reports since their inception in 1981, and apart from a small number of reports published in late 1995 (see 1995 SCCR 685) has edited every report and written every case commentary in these Reports up until the present date.]

1982

Book Review: Colin Tapper (ed), Crime, Proof and Punishment: Essays in Memory of Sir Rupert Cross (1981) (1982) 33 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 92

1983

R W Renton and H H Brown, Criminal Procedure According to the Law of Scotland (5th edn by G H Gordon assisted by John MacLean and Christopher H. W. Gane, Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd.) [looseleaf service, regularly updated up to the publication of the 6th edition (below) in 1996]

1984

The Criminal Law of Scotland: First Supplement to the Second Edition (Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd. / Scottish Universities Law Institute)

1987

Scottish Criminal Case Reports Supplement (1950-80) (Edinburgh: The Law Society of Scotland)

1989

"Miscarriages of justice" (1989) 34(10) JLSS 359

Memorandum to HL Select Committee on Murder and Life Imprisonment (HL Paper 78, 1988-89)

1992

The Criminal Law of Scotland: Second cumulative supplement to the Second Edition (Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd. / Scottish Universities Law Institute)

Book Review: T H Jones and M G A Christie, Criminal Law (1992) 1992 SLT (News) 234

1993

"'At the mouth of two witnesses': some comments on corroboration", in R F Hunter (ed), Justice and Crime: Essays in Honour of the Right Honourable The Lord Emslie

"Judicial creativity in a common law system" (1993) 27 Israel Law Review 118

"The Report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice" (1993) 38(10) JLSS 384

1996

R W Renton and H H Brown, Criminal Procedure According to the Law of Scotland (6th edn, assisted by Christopher H W Gane, Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd.) [looseleaf service, regularly updated up to the present date]

2000

The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd edn, volume 1, by Michael G A Christie (ed), Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd / Scottish Universities Law Institute

2001

The Criminal Law of Scotland, 3rd edn, volume 2, by Michael G A Christie (ed), Edinburgh: W. Green & Son Ltd / Scottish Universities Law Institute [a supplement to the third edition, by Michael G A Christie, was published in 2005]

2007

Book Review: J Chalmers and F Leverick, Criminal Defences and Pleas in Bar of Trial (2006) (2007) 11 Edin LR 284

2008

Book Review: F Leverick, Killing in Self Defence (2007) (2008) 12 Edin LR 493