The Right Honourable Sir Andrew Morritt CVO |
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Chancellor of the High Court Vice-Chancellor of the Supreme Court (2000–2005) |
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In office 17 July 2000 – 10 January 2013 |
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Preceded by | Lord Scott of Foscote |
Succeeded by | Sir Terence Etherton |
Lord Justice of Appeal | |
In office 3 October 1994 – 17 July 2000 |
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Personal details | |
Born | 5 February 1938 |
Nationality | British |
Sir Robert Andrew Morritt CVO (born 5 February 1938), is a former British judge who served as Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales.
Morritt was educated at Eton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1962. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1977 and was Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales from 1978 to 1988. On 15 April 1988, he was appointed a Justice of the High Court, receiving the customary knighthood, and assigned to the Chancery Division. He served from 1991 to 1994 as Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, the judge responsible for Chancery Division business in the North and North East of England. On 3 October 1994, he was promoted to the Court of Appeal, and received the customary appointment to the Privy Council.
He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Supreme Court (in effect the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice as the Lord Chancellor was merely the titular head of the division) on 17 July 2000. On 1 October 2005, his titled changed to Chancellor of the High Court under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, and he became head of the division in truth on 3 April 2006. Morritt retired as Chancellor of the High Court on 10 January 2013.