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She was the first woman judge in England and the second woman High Court judge, as well as the first woman to get a first in law at Liverpool, first to be awarded a scholarship by an Inn, one of the first two women KCs, and the first woman Bencher of an Inn.
For example, C v S [1988] QB 135 in which a young man tried—and failed—to stop his girlfriend having an abortion; Re D (A Minor) [1976] Fam 185, in which Heilbron J held that, contrary to the wishes of family and doctors, it was not in the interests of a young woman with learning difficulties to be sterilised. She also chaired the independent Advisory Group that recommended changes to the rape law following the Morgan case, whose recommendations were embodied in the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976. These judgments would bear analysis for their feminist content—see Rosemary Hunter, Clare McGlynn and Erika Rackley (eds.) (2012) Feminist Judgments: from Theory to Practice, Hart Publishing.
Pensions were extended to “spouses” under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, but Rose Heilbron had retired in 1988.
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Auchmuty, R. Hilary Heilbron: Rose Heilbron: The Story of England’s First Woman Judge. Fem Leg Stud 22, 213–216 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-013-9240-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-013-9240-2