JUDGES AND JUDGING IN THE HISTORY OF THE COMMON LAW AND CIVIL LAW. Eds Paul Brand and Joshua Getzler Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (www.cambridge.org), 2012. xvi + 349 pp. ISBN 9781107018976. £70.00.
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2013.0146 |
| Author | J D Ford |
| Pages | 108-109 |
Presented as “a selection of the best papers from the 18th British Legal History Conference”, held at Oxford in 2007, the volume under review is less accurately described as a collection focused on “the process of law-making in the courts”. Some papers shed light on that process, while others illuminate its background, but in reality they form a miscellany loosely assembled under the broad rubric of “Judges and Judging”. It would of course be unreasonable to expect more, and less might easily have been tolerated, for the standard of research and writing exhibited throughout the volume matches the uniformly high quality of its production.
The papers are organised under three headings, with eight on “Common law”, four on “Continental law”, and four on “Imperial law” (though the first paper in the last part, an analysis by Paul Halliday of the use of habeas corpus writs between 1500 and 1800, might instead have been included in the first part). An outline of the papers can be found in the editors’ preface, and need not be replicated here. What may be more helpful is an indication of some of the major themes that recur in different papers.
One major theme is the rise of professional adjudication and its impact on the handling of disputes. The examination by both Paul Brand and John Langbein of the efforts made in England to diminish the role of juries and increase the involvement of judges in the decision of cases may be compared with Ernest Metzger's examination of the liabilities imposed on Roman
The focus in these and most other papers is on judges and judging...
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