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ABSTRACT
This is the text of the Harris Society Annual Lecture 2023, delivered at Keble College, Oxford, on 16 May 2023. The Lecture is reproduced here with minor editorial changes. The Lecture discusses the role of academic literature in judicial decision-making, and argues that academics help judges to reach decisions that are more conceptually sound, morally satisfactory, and legally coherent. To make this argument, it asks whether academics are ‘delicate plants’ (that is, overly analytical and abstract) or alternatively ‘loose cannons’ (proposing unduly radical suggestions for law reform). After reviewing the historical relationship between academics and the judiciary, a series of cases in which academics have made major contributions to legal development are discussed, including in the field of unjust enrichment and criminal attempts. Following that, cases are discussed in which academic literature might be seen as overly analytical, either because the academics took a more abstract approach than the judiciary, or focussed on socio-economic concerns rather than ‘black letter’ law. It is argued that the concern about academics being ‘delicate plants’ has been overstated and, in particular, the value of socio-economic scholarship should not be underestimated. The next section moves to discuss cases in which judges have disregarded academic literature because it was overly forward-thinking; although, again, the label of academics as ‘loose cannons’, it is argued, is going too far. The Lecture concludes by discussing how academic literature can continue to be applied usefully by judges in the future.
Acknowledgment
I am very grateful to my judicial assistant, Thomas Hibbs, for his research and assistance in the preparation of this Lecture.
Notes
1 [2022] UKSC 27 (UK Supreme Court (UKSC)).
2 ibid [7] (Lord Briggs JSC).
3 R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5 (UKSC) (Miller No 1); R (on the application of Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41 (UKSC) (Miller No 2).
4 Lord Sumption, ‘A question of taste: the Supreme Court and the interpretation of contracts’ (2017) 17 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 301; Lord Hoffmann, ‘Language and Lawyers’ (2018) 134 Law Quarterly Review 553.
5 Andrew Burrows, ‘We do this at common law but that in equity’ (2002) 22 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1.
6 Neil Duxbury, Jurists and Judges: An Essay on Influence (Hart 2001) 77.
7 Lord Neuberger, ‘Judges and professors—ships passing in the night?’ (Speech at the Max Planck Institute, Hamburg, 9 July 2012) <www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Speeches/mr-speech-hamburg-lecture-09072012.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, para 54.
8 ibid, para 3.
9 Duxbury (n 6) 78.
10 [1932] AC 562 (UK House of Lords (UKHL)).
11 ibid 567 (Lord Buckmaster). See also, among others, Re Ryder & Steadman’s Contract [1927] 2 Ch 62 (Chancery Division, High Court of England and Wales (EWHC)), 74.
12 See Lord Neuberger (n 7), paras 15–26; Duxbury (n 6) 66–77.
13 Union Bank v Munster (1887) 37 Ch D 51 (Chancery Division, EWHC), 54.
14 See Jeremy Phillips, ‘Sir Arthur Kekewich: A Study in Intellectual Property Litigation 1886–1907’ (1983) 12 European Intellectual Property Review 335, 337; Lord Neuberger (n 7), para 17.
15 Justice Beatson, ‘Legal Academics: Forgotten Players or Interlopers?’ (Inner Temple Reader’s Lecture Series, London, 12 November 2012) <www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Speeches/justice-beatson-inner-temple-lecture-12112012.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, 6–7.
16 Denys Arthur Winstanley, Early Victorian Cambridge (Cambridge University Press 1940) 3.
17 Alexandra Braun, ‘Judges and Academics: Features of a Partnership’ in James Lee (ed), From House of Lords to Supreme Court: Judges, Jurists and the Process of Judging (Hart Publishing 2011) 228–29.
18 See Lord Neuberger (n 7) para 37.
19 Reinhard Zimmermann, ‘The German Civil Code and the Development of Private Law in Germany’ [2006] Oxford University Comparative Law Forum 1 <ouclf.law.ox.ac.uk/the-german-civil-code-and-the-development-of-private-law-in-germany/> accessed 22 May 2023.
20 Duxbury (n 6) 78.
21 Lord Burrows, ‘Judges and Academics, and the Endless Road to Unattainable Perfection’ (The Lionel Cohen Lecture, Jerusalem, 25 October 2021) <www.supremecourt.uk/docs/lionel-cohen-lecture-2021-lord-burrows.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, 3.
22 Children Act 1989.
23 ‘Former Justices’ (The Supreme Court, 2022) <www.supremecourt.uk/about/former-justices.html> accessed 22 May 2023.
24 ‘Professor Andrew Burrows appointed to the Supreme Court’ (University of Oxford News, 24 July 2019) <www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-07-24-professor-andrew-burrows-appointed-supreme-court> accessed 22 May 2023.
25 Graham Virgo, ‘The Law of Unjust Enrichment in the House of Lords: Judging the Judges’ in James Lee (ed), From House of Lords to Supreme Court: Judges, Jurists and the Process of Judging (Hart Publishing 2011).
26 This principally included the action of indebitatus assumpsit for money had and received to the defendant’s use: see Moses v Macferlan (1760) 2 Bur 1005 (Court of King’s Bench, England), 1012. It also included an action for money paid to the defendant, quantum valebat to recover the reasonable value of goods, and quantum meruit to recover the reasonable value of services: see Virgo (n 25) 170.
27 Common Law Procedure Act 1852.
28 United Australia Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd [1941] AC 1 (UKHL), 29.
29 Robert Goff and Gareth Jones, The Law of Restitution (1st edn, Sweet & Maxwell 1966).
30 Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1991] 2 AC 548 (UKHL), 578 (Lord Goff).
31 Fibrosa Spolka Akcyjna v Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd [1943] AC 32 (UKHL), 61.
32 Discussed in Virgo (n 25) 172.
33 See, eg, Peter Birks, An Introduction to the Law of Restitution (Oxford University Press 1985).
34 Robert Stevens, The Laws of Restitution (Oxford University Press 2023).
35 [1987] AC 1 (UKHL).
36 Anderton v Ryan [1985] AC 560 (UKHL).
37 Glanville Williams, ‘The Lords and Impossible Attempts, or Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’ (1986) 45 Cambridge Law Journal 33.
38 Shivpuri (n 35) 23 (Lord Bridge).
39 Miller No 1 (n 3).
40 ibid [11].
41 Keith Stanton has suggested that the modern law of private nuisance developed out of FH Newark’s seminal 1949 article in the Law Quarterly Review: FH Newark, ‘The Boundaries of Nuisance’ (1949) 65 Law Quarterly Review 480; Keith Stanton, ‘Use of Scholarship by the House of Lords in Tort Cases’ in James Lee (ed), From House of Lords to Supreme Court: Judges, Jurists and the Process of Judging (Hart Publishing 2011).
42 Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) [2001] Fam 147 (Court of Appeal of England and Wales (EWCA)), 232.
43 X v Y (Employment: Sex Offender) [2004] EWCA Civ 662 (EWCA) [44] (Mummery LJ).
44 Lord Goff, ‘The Search for Principle’ (Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence, 5 May 1983), reprinted in William Swadling and Gareth Jones (eds), The Search For Principle: Essays in Honour of Lord Goff of Chievely (Oxford University Press 1999) 328.
45 ibid.
46 R (on the application of TN (Vietnam)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 2838 (EWCA).
47 R (on the application of TN (Vietnam)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 59 (Admin) (Administrative Court, EWHC).
48 TN (Vietnam) (EWCA) (n 46) [84] (my emphasis).
49 Contrast, eg, Christopher Forsyth, ‘The legal effect of unlawful administrative acts: the theory of the second actor explained and developed’ (2001) 35 Amicus Curiae 20 and Paul Craig, Administrative Law (8th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2016) 744–49.
50 TN (Vietnam) (EWCA) (n 46) [76].
51 R (on the application of TN (Vietnam)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 41 (UKSC).
52 See Lord Goff (n 44) 328–29.
53 Lady Hale, ‘Principle and Pragmatism in Public Law’ (Sir David Williams Lecture, Cambridge, 18 October 2019) <www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-191018.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, 16.
54 [1983] 2 AC 237 (UKHL).
55 Although not referred to in the judgment, see Beatson (n 15) 6.
56 Oxford’s BA Law course includes several courses focusing on more abstract legal theory, as do the Harvard JD and LLM degrees: ‘Law (Jurisprudence)’ (University of Oxford, 2023) <www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/law-jurisprudence> accessed 22 May 2023; ‘Area of Interest: Jurisprudence and Legal Theory’ (Harvard Law School, 2023) <hls.harvard.edu/areas-of-interest/jurisprudence-legal-theory/> accessed 22 May 2023.
57 See Lord Burrows, ‘Judges and Academics’ (n 21); Lord Burrows, ‘Professor Sir Guenter Treitel (1928–2019)’ (Talk at a workshop on Scholars of Contract Law, Oxford, 7 May 2021) <www.supremecourt.uk/docs/lord-burrows-speech-professor-sir-guenter-treitel.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023.
58 Lord Burrows, ‘Judges and Academics’ (n 21) 5.
59 Lord Burrows, ‘Professor Sir Guenter Treitel’ (n 57) 7.
60 Lord Rodger, ‘Judges and Academics in the United Kingdom’ (2010) 29 University of Queensland Law Journal 35, 36.
61 Beatson (n 15) 26.
62 Jim Harris, Property and Justice (Clarendon Press 1996).
63 Bernard Rudden, ‘James William Harris’ (2006) 138 Proceedings of the British Academy 125 <www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1729/138p125.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, 134.
64 White v Jones [1993] 3 WLR 730 (EWCA), 751.
65 Lady Hale, ‘Should judges be socio-legal scholars?’ (Socio-Legal Studies Association 2013 Conference, York, 26 March 2013) <www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-130326.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023.
66 R (on the application of Osborn) v Parole Board [2013] UKSC 61 (UKSC).
67 Lord Reed, ‘Triremes and Steamships: Scholars, Judges, and the Use of the Past’ (The Scrymgeour Lecture, University of Dundee, Dundee, 30 October 2015) <www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-151030.pdf> accessed 22 May 2023, 2.
68 Osborn (n 66) [70].
69 Lord Reed (n 67) 2.
70 [1999] 1 AC 345 (UKHL).
71 Law Commission, Personal Injury Compensation: How Much is Enough? (Law Com No 225, 1994).
72 Lady Hale, ‘Should judges be socio-legal scholars?’ (n 65) 11.
73 Richard A Gardner, ‘Does DSM-IV Have Equivalents for the Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) Diagnosis?’ (2003) 31 American Journal of Family Therapy 1.
74 See, eg, Adrienne Barnett, ‘A genealogy of hostility: parental alienation in England and Wales’ (2020) 42 Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 18.
75 Re C (Parental Alienation: Instruction of Expert) [2023] EWHC 345 (Fam) [103] (Family Division, EWHC).
76 JD Heydon, ‘Threats to judicial independence: the enemy within’ (2013) 129 Law Quarterly Review 205, 211, cited in Beatson (n 15) 10.
77 Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67 (UKSC).
78 Professor Edwin Peel was counsel for Cavendish Square Holding BV; he discussed advancing this argument in the Q&A session following the Lecture.
79 ibid [36] (my emphasis).
80 Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group plc v Commissioners of the Inland Revenue [2006] UKHL 49 (UKSC) [97]; Braun (n 17), 235–36.
81 Thorner v Major [2009] UKHL 18 (UKHL); the earlier decision was Yeoman’s Row v Cobbe [2008] UKHL 55 (UKHL).
82 The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association v Allgemeines Krankenhaus Viersen GmbH [2022] UKSC 29 (UKSC); [2019] EWHC 1104 (QB) (Queen’s Bench Division, EWHC).
83 The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (EWHC) (n 82) [51].
84 The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (EWHC) (n 82) [80].
85 The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association v Allgemeines Krankenhaus Viersen GmbH [2020] EWCA Civ 926 (EWCA).
86 The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (UKSC) (n 82) [73]–[79].
87 See text accompanying nn 26–38.
88 Lord Burrows, ‘Judges and Academics’ (n 21) 3.
89 Jerrold Soh Tsin Howe and Yihan Goh, ‘How and Why Do Judges Cite Academics? Evidence from the Singapore High Court’ (2022) 17 Asian Journal of Comparative Law 134.
90 Goff and Jones (n 29).
91 Soh and Goh (n 89) 156.
92 Stanton (n 41). See also the six similar reasons of Russell Smyth, ‘Other than “Accepted Sources of Law”?: A Quantitative Study of Secondary Source Citations in the High Court’ (1999) 22 University of New South Wales Law Journal 19, 22.
93 Spiliada Maritime Corp v Cansulex Ltd [1987] AC 460, 489 (UKHL) (Lord Goff).
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Lady Justice Carr
The Right Honourable Lady Justice Carr DBE is a Lady Justice of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.