Lord Coulsfield dies after short illness

The former Court of Session judge Lord Coulsfield has diedat the age of 81 after a short illness. 

Lord Coulsfield (John T Cameron) was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and Oxford University. Admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1960, he lectured in public law at Edinburgh University until 1964 before going into full time practice at the bar. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1973 and was Keeper of the Advocates' Library from 1977 to 1987 when he was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, sitting on the bench until 2002. He was one of the three judges who sat in the Lockerbie bombing trial, which resulted in the conviction of one of the two accused.

As chair of a working group he devised the procedural reforms that resulted in reparation actions in the Court of Session following a set timetable, with a pre-trial meeting that resulted in most actions being settled well before their scheduled proof dates, as opposed to on the morning of the proof as frequently happened previously, a practice which was causing severe difficulties in planning court business. His proposals, which were regularly referred to as the Coulsfield reforms, were later adapted for use in the sheriff ordinary and summary cause courts.

He also chaired a working group on duties of disclosure to the accused by criminal prosecutors, and perhaps most significantly, one on civil justice, which reported in 2007 and was reconvened in 2009. This was the precursor to Lord Gill's Review of the Scottish Civil Courts which gave birth to the radical civil court reforms of which implementation is now nearing completion.

From 1997-2003 Lord Coulsfield chaired the Joint Standing Committee on Legal Education, which consists of the heads of the Scottish law schools and representatives of the two professional bodies. An author of learned articles in his own right, he also co-edited the journal Scottish Law & Practice Quarterly, which ran from 1995 to 2003, and the 12th edition of Gloag & Henderson.