Right Honourable The Lord Millett (former Law Lord Lord of Appeal) in a literary lecture on the story of the Akeda in comparison with Euripides play

Date: Tuesday 13 March 2007

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: The Spiro Ark Centre - 25-26 Enford Street, W1

Price: £8

The sacrifice of Iphigenia. Attic red-figure krater by the Illioupersis Painter

The Akeda’s literary brilliance – what happened to Isaac and The Akeda different lesson to each generation

The Christian approach to the story – Isaac as a surrogate for Jesus

Euripides play, its dramatic qualities and its moral on as an anti war play

Kirkegaard’s Abraham as a Knight of Faith not bound by normal moral rules

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MILLETT

Lord Millett is a former Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (or “Law Lord”). He continues to sit for four weeks every year as a Non-Permanent member of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.

Before his appointment to the House of Lords he served at first instance as a High Court Judge of the Chancery Division for 8 years and as a member of the Court of Appeal for 4 years. He had previously practised in the Chancery Division as Junior Counsel from 1958 to 1973 and as Leading Counsel from 1973 to 1986. He was one of the standing Junior Counsel to the Department of Trade and Industry from 1967 to 1973. He was a member of the Insolvency Law Review Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Cork (1976 - 1982) which led to the passing of the Insolvency Act 1986.

As Counsel he appeared regularly for the Inland Revenue, and was leading counsel for the Revenue in the landmark case of Ramsay v Inland Revenue Commissioners in which he had the unique experience of citing American tax cases to the House of Lords. As a Judge he decided several leading cases, both at first instance and as an appellate judge. He tried the first civil action to result from the collapse of the Maxwell Empire. The trial lasted for 10 months and his judgment ran to over 640 pages. In 1999 he was a member of the 7-man Appellate Committee which decided that Senator Pinochet was not entitled to immunity from prosecution and could be extradited to Spain. Alone of the seven, he considered that Pinochet could be extradited for trial on all the charges and not merely a handful.

A scholar of Trinity Hall Cambridge, he obtained a Double First in Classics and Law. He is a member of the Privy Council, a member of the Institute of Arbitrators, an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall Cambridge and an Honorary LLD of London University. He is a leading Freemason, and served for four years as President of the West London Synagogue. He has been married for forty six years and has two sons (both lawyers, one a QC) and five grandchildren.

Since his retirement Lord Millett practises as an arbitrator from Essex Court Chambers. He has been appointed as an arbitrator in international as well as domestic cases. These include a claim against the French and British Governments in which he has been appointed by the Government of the United Kingdom.