Senior Mormon Judge Stands by 'The Rule of Law'

The Honourable J Clifford Wallace, widely-acknowledged as the world's most senior Mormon judge, addressed a regional devotional meeting at London’s Hyde Park Stake Centre on how faith has supported his ethics and informed his world view (14 May 2017).

Judge Wallace, a prominent member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), related experiences over the past 30 years of visiting senior judges and judicial experts in 65 countries.  The aim was to work together with other leaders in improving the impact of the legal system in the lives of individuals.

As Judge Wallace travelled the globe, he counselled, taught, and helped organise structures that would support and facilitate judicial systems to establish a “Rule of Law”.  Confidence in government support for civil rights is critical, he explained.  This helps facilitate freedom of worship and religion in many nations which has allowed faith groups to grow and permitted citizens to worship according to the dictates of their conscience.

Judge Wallace was appointed a US federal court appeals judge in 1972 and is a former President of the Church’s San Diego California Temple.  In rising to prominence as Chief Judge of one of the most significant courts in America, the Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, he became well-respected for his values.  J Clifford Wallace has been a Mormon since he was a teenager.

In his concluding remarks, Judge Wallace encouraged all of us to “judge wisely” in our daily lives.

The London event was sponsored by the J Reuben Clark Law Society, BYU Management Society and Brigham Young University London Centre.