Details
- Compiles definitive versions of Tom Bingham's most important essays and lectures written and delivered in his time as Senior Law Lord
- Provides an engaging, insightful commentary on the main constitutional and legal reforms over the last decade, to which Bingham made a major contribution
- Presents Bingham's views on the future of the British constitution and Human Rights Act, a timely contribution to the current debates on the future of the British State
- Includes eight papers published here for the first time
Tom Bingham (1933-2010) was the 'greatest judge of our time' (The Guardian), a towering figure in modern British public life who championed the rule of law and human rights inside and outside the courtroom. Lives of the Law collects Bingham's most important later writings, in which he brings his distinctive, engaging style to tell the story of the diverse lives of the law: its life in government, in business, and in human wrongdoing.
Following on from The Business of Judging (2000), the papers collected here tackle some of the major debates in British public life over the last decade, from reforming the constitution to the growth of human rights law. They offer Bingham's distinctive insight on issues such as the role of the judiciary in a democracy, the implementation of the Human Rights Act, and the development of the rule of law, in the UK and internationally.
Written in the accessible style that made The Rule of Law(2010) a popular success, the book will be essential reading for all those working in law, and an engaging inroad to understanding modern constitutional and legal debates for the general reader.
Readership: Judges, barristers, and solicitors. Scholars and students with an interest on constitutional, legal, and public issues. Anyone working on public affairs in the UK and commonwealth.
Jeffrey Jowell: Foreword
I. The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Looking Backward
1: Magna Carta
2: The Alabama Claims and the International Rule of Law
3: Dicey Revisited
4: The Evolving Constitution
5: The Old Order Changeth
Looking Forward
6: A Written Constitution?
7: The Future of the House of Lords
II. The Business of Judging
8: The Judges: Active or Passive?
9: Government and Judges: Friends or Enemies?
10: The Highest Court in the Land
III. Human Rights and Human Wrongs
11: The Human Rights Act: The View from the Bench
12: Personal Freedom and the Dilemma of Democracies
13: Habeas Corpus
14: 'The Law Favours Liberty': Slavery and the English Common Law
15: I Beg Your Pardon
IV. The Common Law
16: From Servant to Employee: A Study of the Common Law in Action
17: A Duty of Care: The Uses of Tort
18: The Law as the Handmaiden of Commerce
19: A New Thing under the Sun?: The Interpretation of Contracts and the ICS Decision
20: The Internationalization of the Common Law
V. Lives of the Law
21: Dr Johnson and the Law
22: Mr Bentham is Present
Tom Bingham, Senior Law Lord 2000-2008
The late Tom Bingham occupied all of the senior judicial positions in the UK: the Master of the Rolls, from 1992-1996; the Lord Chief Justice, from 1996-2000; and the Senior Law Lord, from 2000 until his retirement in 2008. He is the author of The Business of Judging (OUP, 2000) and The Rule of Law (Allen Lane, 2009). A volume of essays in his honour, Tom Bingham and the Transformation of the Law was published by OUP in 2009.
Contributors:
"The value of this publication is to provide a modern-day exposition of the best thinking behind recent constitutional changes." - Geoffrey Robertson, NewStatesman
