He studied at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating with a second-class BA in Modern History in 1889, and a third-class Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1891.

[7] He was one of the few Labour politicians to follow MacDonald into the National Government in 1931, and served as Lord Chancellor until 1935, when Stanley Baldwin re-entered office.

Sankey's judgment in Woolmington v DPP [1935] AC 462 is famous for iterating the duty inherent on the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

[citation needed] Sitting in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Lord Sankey gave decisions in significant Canadian constitutional law cases.

Sankey played a key role in establishing the legal framework of the newly disestablished Church in Wales.

[10] Sankey endowed a scholarship for students at Jesus College Oxford seeking to practise at the English Bar.