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UK High Court judge suddenly retires, ending probe into his conduct
来源：shippingazette.com 编辑：编辑部 发布：2017/11/03 10:25:38
ENGLISH High Court judge Peter Smith, 65, implicated in an air freight scandal, suddenly retired, ending aJudicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) probe into his conduct.
Under the rules, all conduct investigations automatically cease when a judge retires, reported London's Financial Times.
One case involved a lawsuit for damages being brought by Emerald Supplies, a flower importer, against British Airways (BA) for its alleged involvement in a worldwide cartel in the air cargo sector.
The airline asked that Mr Justice Peter Smith recuse himself from the July 2015 trial because he had sent emails weeks before the trial began to the chairman of BA, complaining that his luggage had been lost when he returned from a trip with his wife to Florence. He signed the emails in his judicial capacity.
The judge agreed to pass the BA case to a fellow judge despite disagreeing with BA's lawyers that the row over luggage could affect his handling of the issues.
The JCIO was also investigating a second matter connected to a case involving an alleged agreement made between the Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz and Palestinian-born Janan Harb where he had given a ruling.
The judge had written to the head of Blackstone Chambers, whose lawyers represented the prince, to say he would "no longer support your Chambers".
The judge had apparently been angered by an article written by Lord Pannick, of Blackstone, suggesting the Lord Chief Justice should pay attention to the judicial conduct in the British Airways case.
The Court of Appeal said the letter showed a "deeply worrying and fundamental lack of understanding of the proper role of a judge" but rejected any allegation of apparent bias by Justice Smith against two barristers representing Prince Abdul Aziz.
Under the rules, all conduct investigations automatically cease when a judge retires, reported London's Financial Times.
One case involved a lawsuit for damages being brought by Emerald Supplies, a flower importer, against British Airways (BA) for its alleged involvement in a worldwide cartel in the air cargo sector.
The airline asked that Mr Justice Peter Smith recuse himself from the July 2015 trial because he had sent emails weeks before the trial began to the chairman of BA, complaining that his luggage had been lost when he returned from a trip with his wife to Florence. He signed the emails in his judicial capacity.
The judge agreed to pass the BA case to a fellow judge despite disagreeing with BA's lawyers that the row over luggage could affect his handling of the issues.
The JCIO was also investigating a second matter connected to a case involving an alleged agreement made between the Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz and Palestinian-born Janan Harb where he had given a ruling.
The judge had written to the head of Blackstone Chambers, whose lawyers represented the prince, to say he would "no longer support your Chambers".
The judge had apparently been angered by an article written by Lord Pannick, of Blackstone, suggesting the Lord Chief Justice should pay attention to the judicial conduct in the British Airways case.
The Court of Appeal said the letter showed a "deeply worrying and fundamental lack of understanding of the proper role of a judge" but rejected any allegation of apparent bias by Justice Smith against two barristers representing Prince Abdul Aziz.