Leif Thomas Eldring was a Norwegian judge and civil servant.

He was born in Vardø

Vardø

is a town and a municipality in Finnmark county in the extreme northeast part of Norway.Vardø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The law required that all cities should be separated from their rural districts, but because of a low population and very few voters, this was...

. He competed his education in law in 1963, having worked part-time in Postverket. He was Norway's Governor of Svalbard

Governor of Svalbard

The Governor of Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago .The position reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, but it maintains all Norwegian interests in the area, including environmental protection, law enforcement,...

 from 1974 to 1977 and 1985 to 1991. Between the two spells he had been appointed as deputy under-secretary of state in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of justice, police and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the Ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic guarantees of the rule of law...

. Except for his second spell in Svalbard, he was the permanent under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice from 1979 to 1993. From 1 January 1994 to his death in August 1994 he served as a Supreme Court Justice

Supreme Court of Norway

The Supreme Court of Norway was established in 1815 on the basis of the Constitution of Norway's §88, prescribing an independent judiciary. It is located in Oslo and is Norway's highest court...

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