Arnold McNair, 1st Baron McNair

The eldest son of John McNair of Dulwich (but originally of Paisley, Scotland) and Jeannie Ballantyne, McNair was educated at Aldenham School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read law. From 1907 to 1908 he was Secretary of Cambridge University Liberal Club,[1] and in 1909 he was President of the Cambridge Union.

After practising as a solicitor in London, McNair returned to Cambridge in 1912 to become a fellow of his old college. He later became senior tutor. In 1917 he was called to the Bar, Gray's Inn. McNair had taken an interest in international law from an early age, and in 1935 he was appointed Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge. However, he left this chair already in 1937 to become Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University. He remained in Liverpool until 1945, when he returned to Cambridge to take up the position of professor of comparative law.

The following year McNair was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a post he held until 1955, and was also president of the Court from 1952 to 1955. He later served as the first President of the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg from 1959 to 1965.