Lord Lane of St Ippollitts, who has died aged 87 years, became a source of major controversy during the 1987 appeal of the Birmingham Six.
The former lord chief justice of England and Wales remarked during the hearing: "The longer this case has gone on, the more convinced this court has become that the verdict of the jury was correct."
However, the convictions, secured in 1975 at Lancaster Crown Court for the bombing atrocity, were later quashed. This was done on the grounds that the confessions to police officers had been improperly admitted in evidence.
Lord Lane was lord chief justice between 1980 and 1992.
In a tribute, Lord Falconer, the lord chancellor, said: "Lord Lane was a great lawyer and compassionate judge. Though he is perhaps most associated in the public's mind with the Birmingham Six case, that should not overshadow his lasting contribution to the law as a high court judge, lord justice of appeal and as a lord chief justice."
Lord Lane was educated at Shrewsbury and went on to read classics at Trinity College Cambridge. He served in the RAF during the second World War, reaching the rank of squadron leader. He was called to the bar in 1946, became a QC in 1962 and was raised to the bench in 1966.
Following his retirement in 1992, he accepted an invitation from the Prison Reform Trust to chair an independent committee to consider the mandatory life sentence for murder.
He is survived by his wife and son.