High Court Judge
In October 1924, the minority Labour government was suffering the repercussions of the Campbell case and was not expected to survive. When Sir Clement Bailhache died, Lord Chancellor Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane was anxious that the appointment of a High Court judge was not made "in the last agony of the government's existence". The appointment was made in some haste.
MacKinnon sat in the Commercial Court but also went on circuit with the assizes. Criminal law and juries had never formed a material part of his practice but he adapted well though his reputation as a judge never matched his standing as a lawyer.
In 1926, he chaired a committee to review the law on arbitration. The committee concluded that the Arbitration Act 1889 had been effective and recommended only some miscellaneous amendments. The recommendations were only parted impemented in the Arbitration Acts of 1928 and 1934.
Read more about this topic: Frank Douglas Mac Kinnon
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