The Safest Shield: Lectures, Speeches and Essays

by Igor Judge

Overview

This selection of lectures, essays and speeches by Lord Judge, nearly all written when he was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, brings together his analysis of a wide range of topics which underpin the administration of justice and the rule of law. Apart from a few personal reflections, the discussion ranges from the development of our constitutional arrangements to matters of continuing constitutional uncertainty, with observations about different aspects of the court process and the discharge of judicial responsibilities. Based on Lord Judge's experience in the law and a deep interest in history, this selection offers sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes amusing, but always stimulating reading, and will provoke thoughtful reflection on and better understanding of the arrangements by which we are governed and the practical application of the rule of law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509901906
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	11/19/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	607 KB

About the Author

Lord Judge was first appointed a Judge of the High Court in 1988 and was Lord Chief Justice and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales from 2008 until 2013.

Table of Contents

A. Towards a Constitution
1. Magna Carta: Luck or Judgment
2. William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke
3. 1361 and All that
4. Authorised Version of the Bible: Divine Right
5. “No Taxation without Representation”: A British Perspective on Constitutional Arrangements
B. Continuing Constitutional Concerns
6. Constitutional Change: Unfinished Business
7. Sovereignty: A View from London
8. Parliamentary Self Government
9. Henry VIII Clauses
10. Assisted Suicide: Moral and Constitutional Issues

C. The Judiciary
11. Judicial Independence and Responsibilities
12. Being a Judge in 2013
13. Judicial Training: Reflections on the Past and Thoughts for the Future
14. Encouraging Diversity
D. Liberties and Rights
15. Equality Before the Law
16. Human Rights: Today and Tomorrow
17. The Judiciary and the Media
18. Press Regulation
19. The Welsh Language: Some Reflections
E. Administration of Justice
20. The Art of Advocacy
21. Trial by Jury
22. Half a Century of Change: The Evidence of Child Victims
23. The Evidence of Child Victims: the Next Stage
24. Expert Evidence
25. Miscarriages of Justice
26. The Sentencing Decision


F. Personal Reflections
27. Celebration of the Diamond Jubilee and Her Majesty the Queen
28. Catastrophic Spinal Injuries
29. History of the Middle Temple (Foreword)
30. The Future of the Inn: the Middle Temple
31. Why Read Law?
32. Reginald Walter Michael Dias
33. Induction Seminar: Welcome
34. David Thomas
35. Our Independent Judiciary

Editorial Reviews

Lord Judge was not just any old judge, but was a model occupant of an ancient office that is more than 700 years old.
” —The Daily Telegraph

“Though he had an uncanny knack of knowing exactly what the public was thinking – about crime, about sentencing and much else – he was always the judge's judge …Little wonder then that, when he had delivered his last formal judgment as lord chief justice, he was treated to something I have never before encountered in a court of law: nearly 300 people rising as one and breaking into sustained, whole-hearted applause.” —The Guardian

“I was superbly entertained, informed and mesmerised by the lucid, thought-provoking and able contribution put forward by the author, at a time when he was Lord Chief Justice, on a legion of themes, not least on the subjects of the evidence on children, sentencing, advocacy, human rights, judicial independence and the liberty of the subject tributary to the rule of law.” —Criminal Law Jourbanal

“[Lord] Judge has an accessible and relaxed style, which ensures that the reader is immediately engaged and carried along by these pieces. However, the style also results in the reader almost being taken unawares by the depth and breadth of the author's scholarship; his deep attachment to his country, its history and its institutions; and his passionate commitment to justice and the rule of law.” —The Middle Templar Magazine

“[These] writings resonate with history as well as humanity.” —The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher