Christopher James Prout was born on 1 January 1942, the son of Frank Yabsley Prout and Doris Lucy Prout (née Osborne). He was educated at Sevenoaks School; Manchester University; Queen's College, Oxford; and Columbia University. He was married and had four step-children.

He joined the staff of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development in Washington DC, 1966-9, and then became a Leverhulme Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Sussex University, 1969-79. He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple, 1972, and became a Queen's Counsel, 1988. He was an Assistant Recorder, 1997-9; Recorder, 2000-5; and Deputy High Court Judge, from 2005. He was also a Bencher of Middle Temple, 1996. Lord Kingsland was Chairman of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, 2004-9 and of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, 2002-9.

He was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament [MEP] for Shropshire and Stafford, 1979-94, and Deputy Whip, 1979-82, Chief Whip, 1983-7, and Leader, 1987-94, of the British Conservative MEPs. He was also Chairman and Leader of the European Democratic Group, 1987-92, and Vice-Chairman of the European People's Party Parliamentary Group, 1992-4. He was Shadow Lord Chancellor, 1997-2008, and Shadow Minister for Legal Affairs, 2008-9.

He was knighted, 1990, and created a peer as Baron Kingsland, 1994. He became a Privy Councillor, 1994. He was an honorary fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, from 2006.

He died on 12 July 2009.

His publications include: "Market Socialism in Yugoslavia" (1985), and contributions to volumes 8.51 and 52 of the 4th edition of Halsbury’s Laws of England.