FAMILIES who lost a relative to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease following treatment with human growth hormone from corpses yesterday won their High Court fight for the right to claim compensation from the Government.

The ruling involved 13 victims, including two Scots, whose hormone treatment to combat dwarf-ism ''straddled'' the compensation cut-off date of July 1, 1977.

Last night, the families expressed relief with the judgment, which will allow them to claim compensation on average of between #90,000 and #140,000.

For some families of CJD victims - who were treated with human growth hormone as children - the ruling marks the end of a nine-year battle.

Mr Justice Morland said the issue he had to determine was whether it had been established on behalf of the families that the human growth hormone treatment ''would have been stopped on or soon after July 1, 1977 in respect of the relevant patient by that patient's clinician''.

He ruled that ''treatment for ongoing patients would have ceased on July 1, 1977 or as soon as practicable thereafter''.

After the ruling, Mr Stephen Irwin, QC, for the families, said: ''As the parties have anticipated, we will have to apply the judgment now in individual cases.''

He added: ''It is hoped there will be a meeting between the two sides on June 17 by which time we hope to apply the judgment and reach agreement where possible and we hope to reach agreement in all, or all but very few, of the straddler cases.'' He said it was hoped that the defendants - the Medical Research Council and the Health Secretary - would ''very swiftly'' be in a position to admit liability in respect of the great majority of the straddler cases.

Solicitors for the plaintiffs said that eight of the families would definitely win compensation for the loss of children or spouses to CJD. Their claims totalled more than #1m.

One of them is the family of Terence Newman of Coulsdon, Surrey who died in 1990, aged 21. His mother Maureen said yesterday: ''I am pleased with the judgment - I just wish it had all finished a couple of years ago for us. Now we know we have won we can let Terry rest.''

Five more families are yet to have their cases determined. Last month, the defendants conceded four cases in the ''straddler'' litigation.

The 13 deceased involved in yesterday's ruling included 20-year-old Mark Smith from Glasgow, who died in 1990 after being treated between the ages of six and 16. His family are certain to win compensation as nearly 90% of Mark's treatment was after the cut off date.

Another Scot, Brian Copland from Perthshire, died in May 1992, after treatment between 1971-1980. His family are among those over which there is an uncertainty about compensation.

Following Mr Justice Morland's ruling, counsel for the Department of Health, Leigh-Ann Mulcahy, said the defendant had conceded four cases at the outset, but it had not been possible to make further concessions before that. She rejected what she called ''implicit criticism'' of the defendant in failing to make further concessions.

Ms Mulcahy stressed: ''My clients wish to have an oppor- tunity to consider the judgment and consider whether or not they wish to appeal it in any way. As a result any concession this morning would be inappropriate. We intend to be in a position to make any concessions that are appropriate by June 17 if not before.''

The families' children took part in a UK programme from 1959 to 1985, in which human growth hormone was ''harvested'' from the pituitary glands of almost one million corpses.

It was spectacularly successful in enabling almost 2000 British children to attain normal statue. But it was brought to an abrupt end in May 1985 after several children who had been treated in the US died of CJD.

In this country, 25 people who had the treatment have died and a further two are ill with CJD.

In July 1996, Mr Justice Morland ruled that the Department of Health was negligent in not heeding the warning of Dr Alan Dickinson, who in 1977 told the Medical Research Council about the risk of contracting CJD from the hormone treatment.

He said the Department of Health should not have allowed any further patients to enter the programme after July 1, 1977, and that the families of those whose treatment began after that date could pursue compensation.