Background
Rant was born on 16 April 1936 in the Romford district of Essex and was educated at the Stowe School and Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Rant was born on 16 April 1936 in the Romford district of Essex and was educated at the Stowe School and Selwyn College, Cambridge.
He graduated from Selwyn College in 1958 and was called to the bar by Gray"s Inn in 1961.
He started practicing general law until 1970, when he began to specialise in criminal law, he became a barrister in 1980 and by 1984 had become a circuit judge, sitting at the Old Bailey from 1986. In 1991, he was appointed the Judge Advocate General, the first for a long time without a background or connection to the military. He made a number of reforms to the court-martial system including a centralised administration system for Army and Royal Air Force courts-martial and the introduction of judge advocates.
He further reformed the system to reflect the introduction of the Human Rights Acting including the creation of summary appeal courts.
Rant was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1995 Birthday Honours. He died on 25 May 2003, aged 67.