[citation needed] He frequently sat in the Court of Appeal with Bankes[5] and Atkin LJJ, a combination which has often been cited as one of the strongest benches ever to sit in commercial cases.

[6] On the criminal side he presided over the celebrated 1915 "Brides-in-the-Bath" trial of George Joseph Smith, and made a crucial ruling on "similar fact evidence": Smith was charged with murdering only one of his recent brides by drowning her in the bath, but Scrutton ruled that the fact that two of his other brides had died in almost identical circumstances was admissible as evidence of a method or pattern of murder.

His intolerance extended even to other judges, particularly the flamboyant and controversial Sir Henry McCardie whom he openly despised, and whom he attacked with increasing bitterness until their mutual antipathy resulted in a public quarrel.

Scrutton wrote The Contract of Affreightment as Expressed in Charter-parties and Bills of Lading (1886), in which he drew on his knowledge of the family business as well as his legal training.

He was noted for religious scepticism: at his death, he left instructions that there should be "no empty Christian rituals" at his burial, although his wishes were either ignored or overlooked.