Lord Donaldson, a moderniser of the judicial system

But he left his mark on the judicial system by becoming a driving force in modernising the courts.

John Donaldson was the son of a Harley Street gynaecologist, and was educated at Charterhouse and at Trinity College, Cambridge. After war service in the Royal Signals, he was called to the Bar in 1946.

He became the youngest High Court judge when he was appointed to the Queen's Bench Division in 1966. His appointment in 1971 as President of the new court set up under the Conservative Government's Industrial Relations Act opened a stormy chapter in British legal and industrial history.

In a statement of intent made on the Court's first day of business, Sir John recalled that Parliament had instructed the court to avoid all unnecessary formality, and said that it would seek to function more in the manner and with the speed associated with a tribunal rather than a court.

The decision of the Trades Union Congress to boycott the court made it, however, increasingly difficult to carry out its intentions.

LORD DONALDSON 1920-2005 1920: Born 6 October, son of a Harley Street gynaecologist Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge 1941: Commissioned into the Royal Signals 1941-45: Served with the Guards Armoured Divisional Signals in the UK and north-west Europe 1946: Called to the Bar at Middle Temple 1961: Made a Queen's Counsel 1966: Became a High Court judge, Queen's Bench Division 1971-74: President of the ill-fated National Industrial Relations Court 1979: Made Lord Justice of Appeal 1982-1992: Master of the Rolls

In the spring of 1972, after the continued 'blacking' of lorries by Liverpool dockers in defiance of court orders, Sir John found it necessary to impose a heavy fine on the Transport and General Workers' Union for contempt of court.

Later in the same year, he sent five London dockers to prison for the same offence: (He ordered their release a few days later, after a judgement of the House of Lords that unions were responsible for their shop stewards' actions).

Towards the end of 1973 the refusal of the Engineering Union to pay their fine imposed on it by the court led to the sequestration of its assets and the threat by the unions of a national strike. This was averted by an anonymous gift, which made possible the settlement of the union's debt and the recovery of its assets.

As time went on, Sir John came under increasingly bitter attack from Labour MPs, who accused him of political bias; and the minority Labour Government, formed after the general election of 1974, made it one of their priorities to get rid of him and his court, along with the Industrial Relations Act.

Sir John used to say that he had not been responsible for framing the Act, only for applying it.

After the demise of the Industrial Relations Court in the summer of 1974, he returned to his work in the Commercial Court of the Queen's Bench Division. He was elevated to the Appeal Court in 1979.

In 1976 he presided at the trial of the Maguire Seven in which members of the Maguire family were convicted of various charges relating to IRA terrorism.

The convictions were later quashed and the case returned to haunt him just as other senior judges were dogged by other miscarriages of justice in that period.

Annie Maguire, one of the Seven wrongly convicted of terrorism

In 1990, an inquiry by Sir John May into the injustice suffered by the Maguires said that Mr Justice Donaldson, as he was then, had failed to appreciate that the sudden emergence of new evidence on the last day of the trial removed the whole basis of the prosecution case.

He also allowed inadmissible evidence to be presented to the jury, the report added.

Lord Donaldson felt the media had attacked him unfairly for having refused to give evidence to the inquiry when in fact he had never been asked to attend.

In July 1982 it was announced from Downing Street that Sir John would succeed Lord Denning as Master of the Rolls on 30th September 1982.

The judge won admiration for his reforms as head of the civil division, where he slashed backlogs and introduced computerisation.

Lord Donaldson also made a major contribution to the development of maritime law. His recommendations as chairman of the inquiry set up after the 1993 Braer oil tanker ran aground off the Shetland Isles have been internationally acclaimed.

Most recently, Lord Donaldson commented on the government's plans to toughen the anti-terrorism laws. He insisted judges would continue to interpret the law independently of the government's demands.

He said: "It is the job of the judges to ensure that the government of the day does not exceed its powers, which is a permanent desire of all governments."

Sir John was married to Lady Mary Donaldson who was the first woman alderman and first woman sheriff of the City of London. She died in 2003. They had three children.