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The Politics of the Common Law

Perspectives, Rights, Processes, Institutions

by Wayne Morrison; Robert Jago

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Available editions of The Politics of the Common Law

	9780415481533, Paperback, Cavendish Pub Ltd, 2008 $47.38 (NEW) Other copies of 9780415481533

Customer Reviews

on Jan 1 2009, PhillipTaylorMBE said:

"OUR CONTEMPORARY COMMON LAW UNDER SERIOUS ACADEMIC POLITICAL SCRUTINY It always amazes me that many students and lawyers assume that judges donï¿½t play politics because the reality is that they doï¿½ justified by the words ï¿½common lawï¿½ and ï¿½policyï¿½! However, the beauty of our common law system is that the judges donï¿½t do it overtly, so this book succeeds in answering its basic question- can a revitalized common law address a plural, post colonial future? I came away from the authorsï¿½ conclusion that the answer is ï¿½yesï¿½. It is ï¿½yesï¿½ because the subject has rightly been ï¿½reinventedï¿½ and ï¿½re-orientatedï¿½ by them, giving what we all know as a ï¿½legal systemï¿½ or ï¿½legal methodï¿½ both some coherence and foundation which seemed to be lacking before the Human Rights Act 1998 appeared and changed the legal landscape. For this reason, I welcome the book as a major statement on a twenty-first century evaluation of common law as our own legal system becomes more entwined in EU law, and global legal and financial issues (most certainly the financial ones) appear so much more relevant to all than they once did (in the summer of 2008). I was reading this book during the annual Human Rights Law Conference which Justice run each year with Thomson Reuters. I heard many speakers referring to what I see as the main thrust of this work - an evaluation of the general jurisprudence of human rights emanating from the 1998 Act in our current common law context. Jack Straw introduced the 1998 Act, and he has now become our Lord Chancellor (in a reorganised post) whilst I write this review. Straw remains very proud of his achievement which he reminded the Conference he considers (rightly) as being one of the main lasting legacies of the Labour Partyï¿½s current term in office from the last three Parliaments - a singular ï¿½bigï¿½ achievement for the Blair and Brown governments as they have changed the face of law in Britain forever. OPENING THIS NEW CHAPTER Gearey, Morrison and Jago recognize that the Act has created a more pronounced judicial intervention into politics which is to be expected with its review of administrative actions in the public sector since the Thatcher years. The greatest value of the book for me is that it places our picture of the common law in its contemporary context and reviews our criminal and civil procedures although none of the authors are practising lawyers (probably a good thing, too!) I found the book highly informative with 16 chapters on jurisprudential themes, each of which examines the pressing issues of the day- especially the tensions between the requirements of economics and the demands of justice. It is quite a deep book requiring a basic grounding in legal method, and I would advise learners to have some knowledge of our legal system before reading it otherwise it will be hard going for some. To me, its greatest value is to be found in placing the common law with each of its historic links covering the four themes they employ: (1) an engagement with the cultures of the post-colonial common law; (2) the notion of judicial practices; (3) an engagement with the notion of procedure or process and (4) human rights. The common law will always be born out of historical experience (mainly precedent) by its very nature. So, I came away from this book reminded of some of my old political campaigns, mainly against anti EU factions, and I tried to consider the useful practical implications of this work which have opened up a new chapter for all of us: and there are many as the debate opens up. What Gearey, Morrison and Jago have achieved here is the forerunner of a new, stronger debate on the value of the common law in a post Human Rights Act 1998 age which will be upon us shortly as we review the new Green Paper on a ï¿½Bill of Rights and Responsibilitiesï¿½. We will need to place this debate which has begun here in its new context with the EU, and globally, as the new century takes hold and some of our main legislative codes merge as the main challenge to a globilisation of legal institutions one day in the future. "

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