Cohen, Lionel Leonard, Baron
COHEN, LIONEL LEONARD, BARON
COHEN, LIONEL LEONARD, BARON (1888–1973), English judge and jurist. Born in London, he was admitted to the bar in 1913, made a king's counsel in 1929, a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court in 1943, and Lord Justice of Appeal and a privy councillor in 1946. In 1951 he was named a peer as Baron of Walmer and sat in the House of Lords as a "Lord of Appeal in Ordinary" until 1960. He was chairman of the Company Law Amendment Committee (1943–45) and acquired renown as the author of the Companies Act of 1948, which became a model for company legislation in many countries. Notable among his public offices were his chairmanship of the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors (1946–56) and of the Council on Prices, Productivity, and Incomes (1957–59) which was known as the Cohen Committee. Cohen followed his family tradition of general and Jewish public service. He was an active president of the Jewish Board of Guardians and also president of the Jewish Historical Society of England and of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues. He was vice president of the Board of Deputies.
bibliography:
P. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 177. add. bibliography: odnb online.
[Israel Finestein]