THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH

Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland

6 August 1940

(page 4)

A POLISHED JUDGE.

Mr. Justice Hilbery, who has been trying the action in which a woman of 58 claimed damages for breach of promise from a man of 68, is a judge with the most polished manner of any of the judges of the King’s Bench Division. He has, too, a gift for putting seemingly harmless questions which often prove a death trap for a prevaricating witness.

He has a reputation at the Bar for sarcasm, and there is no doubt that he is a terror for young barristers who have not enough experience of his Court to know that his aloof manner serves to conceal a very lively sense of humour.

When he was practising at the Bar it was his lot to appear before the late Mr. Justice Swift in several of that judge’s most celebrated cases, notably the Alistair [sic] Crowley “Black Magic” action, which was productive of so much that was sensational a few years ago. His famous cross-examination of Mr. Crowley is still talked about in legal circles. No one appreciated its excellence more than the judge who presided. Mr. Justice Swift was a connoisseur of the art of cross-examination.