| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| Sir William Aldous | |
| Office2: | Lord Justice of Appeal |
| Term Start2: | 1995 |
| Term End2: | 2003 |
| Office3: | Justice of the High Court |
| Term Start3: | 1988 |
| Term End3: | 1995 |
| Birth Date: | 17 March 1936 |
| Birth Place: | United Kingdom |
| Nationality: | British |
| Spouse: | Gill Henson |
| Residence: | Suffolk, UK |
Sir William Aldous (17 March 1936 - 17 March 2018) was an English judge and a judge in the Gibraltar Court of Appeal.
Born in Suffolk, Aldous was the son of barrister Guy Aldous QC and his wife, Gill Henson, daughter of Gino Henson, MFH, Master of the Blankney Hunt. Growing up in East Anglia, Aldous was a keen and eager huntsman from an early age. His father was MFH of the Essex and Suffolks, a responsibility that he passed onto Willie Aldous in 1970. He ceased hunting for real in 1976 to rejoin a serious career as a London barrister. Aldous achieved considerable success in the practice of intellectual property law that took him all the way to the bench of the Patents Court.
William Aldous was head of barristers' chambers at 6 Pump Court, Inner Temple from 1980 to 1988.[1] In 1988 he was appointed to the High Court bench and assigned to the Patents Court of the Chancery Division.[2] In January 1993 his judgment reflected a trend towards the freedom to publish. The Home Office had claimed copyright over tapes of serial killer, Dennis Nilsen in the possession of World In Action. Charles Tremayne of Granada Television, described Aldous's decision to allow broadcast as "welcome and surprising".[3]
He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1995 and was sworn a member of the Privy Council.[4] He retired from the bench in October 2003[2] and became an arbitrator in intellectual property arbitrations.[5] He was a member of the Gibraltar Court of Appeal.[2] In March 2009 he dissented from other Court of Appeal judges, in giving the opinion that the Gibraltar Government's housing allocation policy discriminated against same-sex couples.[6]
Sir William Aldous died on 17 March 2018, his 82nd birthday.[7]
Judgments of Aldous in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales include:
| Escutcheon: | Argent between three parrots rising Gules on a chief Sable as many mullets of the first piereced. |
| Crest: | A parrot as in the arms charged on the dexter wing with an annulet Or.[14] |