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{{More footnotes|date=October 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
'''Sir Thomas Scott Gillespie Baker''', [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]] (born 10 December 1937) is a retired [[England and Wales|English]] [[Lord Justice of Appeal|Court of Appeal judge]]. Scott Baker is the eldest son of [[George Baker (judge)|Sir George Baker]], a former [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|High Court judge]] who was [[President of the Family Division]] from 1971 to 1979. One of his brothers, Judge Michael Baker, KC, was the Resident [[judge]] at [[St Albans Crown Court]].
== Education ==
Scott Baker was educated at [[Haileybury & Imperial Service College]], and studied at [[Brasenose College, Oxford]]. He was a member of [[Chorleywood Urban District]] Council from 1964 to 1967. He married Margaret Joy Baker on 10 February 1973. The couple has
== Career ==
He was [[called to the bar]] at the [[Middle Temple]] in 1961, and practised in a range of legal areas, including family finance cases, and professional [[negligence]]. He became a [[Recorder (judge)|recorder]] in 1976, and was appointed a [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1978.
He was appointed as a [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|High Court judge]] in 1988 (and was styled '''Mr Justice Scott Baker'''), receiving the customary [[knighthood]], and allocated to the [[Family Division]].
▲He became a [[Recorder (judge)|recorder]] in 1976, and was appointed a [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1978. He became a [[Bencher]] at Middle Temple in 1985. He was a member of the Committee that inquired into human fertilisation in 1982 to 1984, chaired by [[Mary Warnock]], which led to the [[Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990]].
He was Presiding Judge of the [[Wales and Chester Circuit]] from 1991 to 1995, and a member of the [[Parole Board]] from 1999 to 2002. He was the Lead Judge of the [[Administrative Court]] from 2000 to 2002.
▲He was appointed as a [[High Court judge (England and Wales)|High Court judge]] in 1988 (and was styled '''Mr Justice Scott Baker'''), receiving the customary [[knighthood]], and allocated to the [[Family Division]]. He moved to the [[Queen's Bench Division]] in 1993.
▲He was Presiding Judge of the [[Wales and Chester Circuit]] from 1991 to 1995, and a member of the [[Parole Board]] from 1999 to 2002. He was the Lead Judge of the [[Administrative Court]] from 2000 to 2002. In 1999, he presided over the trial of [[First Great Western|Great Western Trains]] following the [[Southall rail crash]] in 1997.
He dismissed charges of [[corporate manslaughter (England and Wales)|corporate manslaughter]], as there was no identifiable individual in the company who was also guilty of [[gross negligence]], but levied a then-record fine for [[health and safety]] offences of £1.5m. His judgment was upheld on appeal. The same year, Baker presided at the trial of [[Jonathan Aitken]] on charges of [[perjury]] following the collapse of Aitken's [[libel]] suit against ''[[The Guardian]]''.
Baker was promoted in 2002, becoming a [[Lord Justice of Appeal]]. He was Treasurer of his [[Inns
In March 2011, Baker was sworn in as a Justice of the [[Court of Appeal of Bermuda]], a position that he held until 2018.
== Notable
*[[St Albans City and DC v International Computers Ltd|St Albans City and DC v International Computers Ltd (1994)]] - Baker delivered the first instance judgment regarding unfair contract terms and liability limitation in business to business contracts, whilst a portion of the case was overturned on appeal, the ratio and obiter delivered by Baker remains leading law in the area of sale of goods and limitation.<ref>(1994) IP & T Digest 26</ref>
*[[R v Great Western Trains Co (1999) (Unreported)]] - Baker dismissed the case against Great Western, holding that it was a condition precedent for a guilty mind to be proven before charges of gross negligence manslaughter could be made out. The judgment was referred by the Attorney General to the Court of Appeal in Attorney General’s Reference No 2 of 1999.<ref>[2000] EWCA Crim 91</ref>
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