It is with great sadness that we heard this week the news of the death of Lord Judge, the President of the Oratory Schools Association, an Old Oratorian and School Captain in 1959.

Lord Judge, who was a committed friend of the school throughout his adult life, enjoyed a brilliant career, the culmination of which was his tenure as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales between 2008 and 2013.

Lord Judge was not only a highly skilled barrister and judge, but a passionate defender of the rule of law, free speech and the often delicate balance of freedoms and obligations that underpins a genuinely free and liberal society.

His passing is a great loss not only to our community, but to British law and British society. He will be greatly missed.

Read obituaries to Lord Judge in The Telegraph, The Times and the BBC.