There was never any real contest for the No 1 slot. Tom Bingham, 74, is regarded as the pre-eminent lawyer of his generation with a brilliant, incisive mind. On top of that, he has held the three posts of Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and now senior law lord (retiring this year) each with consummate skill. Not for nothing was he made a Knight of the Garter in 2005 — the first judge to be granted the honour. As senior law lord, his influence is far-reaching, both in rulings and over decisions such as who will be his successor — Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. Key judgments over which he presided include the ruling in the Belmarsh case: the law lords held that it was unlawful, and a breach of human rights, to detain foreign terrorist suspects without charge; another was the ruling that evidence against terror suspects obtained by torture was inadmissible. He went to Sedbergh School and Balliol College, Oxford, reading modern history (an unsuccessful bid in 2003 to be Chancellor at Oxford is his only known setback); then entered the Bar, joining the commercial set Fountain Court Chambers. He was a QC by 1972, appointed a High Court judge in 1980 and promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1986. In 1992 he became Master of the Rolls. His appointment (the choice of Lord Mackay of Clashfern) to be Lord Chief Justice in 1996 was unexpected and caused a stir because of his lack of criminal background but his abilities quickly won over any critics. He became senior law lord in 2000. He favoured incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law (the Human Rights Act 1998) and also divorcing the judicial branch of the House of Lords from Parliament, to create a separate supreme court — he admits to being “very sorry” that he will not be there to take the law lords into that court in the autumn of 2009.

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