2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Andrew Hamilton, Viscount Sumner (1859-1934), one of the greatest of English judges. His trenchant rulings, characterized by deep learning, wisdom and lucidity, and delivered with rare literary distinction and wit, are cited with respect and admiration as classics of the Common Law. Sumner’s personality, assured, articulate, dominating -'an amazingly powerful person' (Harold Laski)—also marked his controversial interventions in British public life. Uniquely for a law lord, he was appointed a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where he strenuously advocated and helped to frame the much criticized reparation chapter of the Treaty of Versailles. As one of the `most formidable gladiators’ on the 'Diehard' wing of the Conservative Party, Sumner aspired—unsuccessfully—to the Woolsack. He defied the growing convention that law-lords should remain silent on political issues, speaking out forcefully on such sensitive topics as the Amritsar 'massacre', the Irish settlement and the General Strike. He resigned from the Bench in 1930 to campaign, as president of the Indian Empire Society, against moves towards Indian independence, and he was a leading activist in the cause of House of Lords reform. With the abolition in 2009 of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the law lords), Sumner stands out in sharp historical relief as an outstanding judge, a remarkable individual and as 'the last political law lord'.

2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Andrew Hamilton, Viscount Sumner (1859-1934), one of the greatest of English judges. His trenchant rulings, characterized by deep learning, wisdom and lucidity, and delivered with rare literary distinction and wit, are cited with respect and admiration as classics of the Common Law. Sumnerâ (TM)s personality, assured, articulate, dominating -'an amazingly powerful person' (Harold Laski)â "also marked his controversial interventions in British public life. Uniquely for a law lord, he was appointed a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where he strenuously advocated and helped to frame the much criticized reparation chapter of the Treaty of Versailles. As one of the `most formidable gladiatorsâ (TM) on the 'Diehard' wing of the Conservative Party, Sumner aspiredâ "unsuccessfullyâ "to the Woolsack. He defied the growing convention that law-lords should remain silent on political issues, speaking out forcefully on such sensitive topics as the Amritsar 'massacre', the Irish settlement and the General Strike. He resigned from the Bench in 1930 to campaign, as president of the Indian Empire Society, against moves towards Indian independence, and he was a leading activist in the cause of House of Lords reform. With the abolition in 2009 of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the law lords), Sumner stands out in sharp historical relief as an outstanding judge, a remarkable individual and as 'the last political law lord'.

When Lord Denning died in 1999, the leader writer of the Daily Telegraph wrote of ‘a deep and almost tangible ‘Englishness’ which ‘shone through many of Lord Denning’s celebrated judgments. He was patriotic, sceptical and humane; intelligent without being intellectual’. Since 1999, the nature of English identity has become the subject of debate and contention, not only within the academy, but also in politics and the media. In some respects, it could be argued that the debate about English identity is one of the most important in contemporary Britain. The Last of England considers the role of Englishness in the jurisprudence of Lord Denning, setting his conception of the role of the judiciary in the constitution, his views about the nature of history, the land and war, his understanding of equity, in particular the way in which he developed the doctrine of estoppel, his attitudes towards immigration and race and his approach to the law of the European Community in the context of the developing debate about the nature of English identity.

The first book to address the way that the broad and inclusive subject of legal history is researched and written.

Gerald Le Dain (1924–2007) was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1984. This collectively written biography traces fifty years of his steady, creative, and conciliatory involvement with military service, the legal academy, legislative reform, university administration, and judicial decision-making. This book assembles contributions from the in-house historian of the law firm where Le Dain first practised, from students and colleagues in the law schools where he taught, from a research associate in his Commission of Inquiry into the non-medical use of drugs, from two of his successors on the Federal Court of Appeal, and from three judicial clerks to Le Dain at the Supreme Court of Canada. Also reproduced here is a transcript of a recent CBC documentary about his 1988 forced resignation from the Supreme Court following a short-term depressive illness, with commentary from Le Dain’s family and co-workers. Gerald Le Dain was a tireless worker and a highly respected judge. In a series of essays that cover the different periods and dimensions of his career, Tracings of Gerald Le Dain’s Life in the Law is an important and compassionate account of one man's commitment to the law in Canada. Contributors include Harry W. Arthurs, G. Blaine Baker, Bonnie Brown, Rosemary Cairns-Way, John M. Evans, Melvyn Green, Bernard J. Hibbitts, Peter W. Hogg, Richard A. Janda, C. Ian Kyer, Andree Lajoie, Gerald E. Le Dain, Allen M. Linden, Roderick A. Macdonald, Louise Rolland, and Stephen A. Scott.

The public image of judges has been stuck in a time warp; they are invariably depicted in the media - and derided in public bars up and down the country - as 'privately educated Oxbridge types', usually 'out-of-touch', and more often than not as 'old men'. These and other stereotypes - the judge as a pervert, the judge as a right-wing monster - have dogged the judiciary long since any of them ceased to have any basis in fact. Indeed the limited research that was permitted in the 1960s and 1970s tended to reinforce several of these stereotypes. Moreover, occasional high profile incidents in the courts, elaborated with the help of satirists such as 'Private Eye' and 'Monty Python', have ensured that the 'old white Tory judge' caricature not only survives but has come to be viewed as incontestable. Since the late 1980s the judiciary has changed, largely as a result of the introduction of training and new and more transparent methods of recruitment and appointment. But how much has it changed, and what are the courts like after decades of judicial reform? Given unprecedented access to the whole range of courts - from magistrates' courts to the Supreme Court - Penny Darbyshire spent seven years researching the judges, accompanying them in their daily work, listening to their conversations, observing their handling of cases and the people who come before them, and asking them frank and searching questions about their lives, careers and ambitions. What emerges is without doubt the most revealing and compelling picture of the modern judiciary in England and Wales ever seen. From it we learn that not only do the old stereotypes not hold, but that modern 'baby boomer' judges are more representative of the people they serve and that the reforms are working. But this new book also gives an unvarnished glimpse of the modern courtroom which shows a legal system under stress, lacking resources but facing an ever-increasing caseload. This book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to know about the experience of modern judging, the education, training and professional lives of judges, and the current state of the courts and judiciary in England and Wales.

In an important addition to the series, this book tells the story of 20 leading revenue law cases. It goes well beyond technical analysis to explore questions of philosophical depth, historical context and constitutional significance. The editors have assembled a stellar team of tax scholars, including historians as well as lawyers, practitioners as well as academics, to provide a wide range of fresh perspectives on familiar and unfamiliar decisions. The whole collection is prefaced by the editors' extended introduction on the peculiar significance of case-law in revenue matters. This publication is a thought provoking and engaging showcase of tax writing that is accessible equally to specialists and non-specialists.

In his book Law and Politics: The House of Lords as a Judicial Body 1800-1976 Robert Stevens wrote that Lord Denning was ‘certainly the most interesting and possibly the most important English judge of the twentieth century’. Stevens also suggested that Lord Denning was one of the ‘few English judges who clearly merits an extensive intellectual biography’. Freedom under the Law essays this task by setting the jurisprudence of Lord Denning in the context of the history of the 1960s and 1970s; assessing his writings about the law and examining his role in the Profumo affair and other major political and legal controversies of that era. Lord Denning’s approach to matters such as religion, education, the currency, the Empire, the Union, national security, the status of aliens and foreigners, social change, the family, the rights of trades unions and the role of the courts in the regulation of industrial conflict and the City of London are examined in the course of a detailed consideration of the judgments which he handed down in the Court of Appeal between 1962 and 1982.

Writing about Lord Denning in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Lord Goff wrote that ‘Denning was a great master of the common law….he was one of the greatest and most influential judges ever to sit on the English bench….few would dispute that Denning was the greatest English judge of the twentieth century’. Lord Goff added that Lord Denning ‘taught the English judiciary that the common law cannot stand still [but] must be capable of development on a case by case basis; to ensure that the principles of the common law are apt to do practical justice in a living society’. Fiat Justitia is concerned with Lord Denning’s place in the common law tradition, as defined by Fortescue, Coke and Blackstone. Lord Denning’s approach to the role of the Judge, and the use of judicial discretion, set in the context of the common law tradition, and the assessments of his contemporaries, is evaluated with particular attention being paid to his understanding of precedent, statutory interpretation, individual rights and control of the abuse of power. Lord Denning’s jurisprudence, as an expression of the common law tradition, is also considered in relation to current developments in the law.

The Jurisprudence of Lord Denning: A Study in Legal History consists of three volumes: Fiat Justitia: Lord Denning and the Common Law; The Last of England: Lord Denning’s Englishry and the Law and Freedom under the Law: Lord Denning as Master of the Rolls, 1962–1982. Each volume considers a different aspect of Lord Denning’s jurisprudence. Fiat Justitia is concerned with Lord Denning’s place in the common law tradition, as defined by Fortescue, Coke and Blackstone. Particular attention is paid to Lord Denning’s approach to the role of the Judge and the use of judicial discretion in relation to precedent, statutory interpretation, individual rights and control of the abuse of power. The Last of England looks at the role of Englishness in the jurisprudence of Lord Denning, setting his approach to equity, in particular the way in which he developed the doctrine of estoppel, immigration and race and the law of the European Community in the context of the developing debate about the nature of English identity. Freedom under the Law sets the jurisprudence of Lord Denning in the context of the history of the 1960s and 1970s; examining his writings about the law, role in the Profumo affair and treatment of themes such as religion, literature, education, the currency, the Empire, the Union, national security, social change, industrial conflict and the role of the City of London. The trilogy provides a comprehensive analysis of the work of one of the most important judges of the twentieth century set in its historical, political and philosophical context. In the course of preparing this work, each of the 1072 judgments of Lord Denning, as reported in the All England Law Reports for the years 1962 to 1982, was considered, together with all the books about the law which he published while sitting as a judge.