Obituary:Sir Oliver Barnett

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: Stuart-Smith, James
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 18.02.1995
• ISSN: 0951-9467

The Office of the Judge Advocate General became a purely judicial department, responsible to the Lord Chancellor, though very much bigger than the pre- war judicial section and on terms of appointment similar to those of judges. What had been the Military and Air Force Departments responsible for prosecution were removed altogether from the control (which had, in any case, been purely nominal) of the Judge Advocate General, becoming the Legal Directorates of the Army and the RAF, responsible to the chief personnel officers of their respective services. In 1955, after several years of intense preparation, the Army and Air Force Acts - the Acts which govern the discipline and certain aspects of those services - were themselves completely rewritten. Barnett found the move highly congenial. The office combined the interest of the criminal law with the world of the armed forces, whose society he enjoyed. He rose rapidly in the hierarchy; having joined as Legal Assistant, by 1938 he was First Deputy. The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything. The enormous expansion of the armed forces which followed had to be reflected in the departments of the Office of the Judge Advocate General. They were augmented by drafting in large numbers of wartime officers who had been lawyers in civilian life. Many of those chosen to join the judicial department had been eminent in their profession and some of them were, when the war was over, to attain the highest judicial offices. The pre-war civilian judicial staff were themselves commissioned into the armed forces, Barnett into the Royal Air Force. He ended the war as a Wing Commander, but with the return of peace returned to civilian status, by now an Assistant Judge Advocate General. Barnett's experience of military law became almost unrivalled. But in the setting up of the new-style Judge Advocate General's Office, within the Lord Chancellor's establishment, he brought to bear personal qualities no less valuable. A natural urbanity of manner, tact and a gift for making friends of those with whom he was working helped him greatly in the delicate negotiations over such vital matters as remuneration and terms of service for him and his colleagues. In 1955 he was appointed Vice Judge Advocate General and in 1962 Judge Advocate General.