THE STATE AND THE LAW
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1948.tb00068.x |
| Date | 01 January 1948 |
| Published date | 01 January 1948 |
THE
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Volume
11
January
1948
No.
1
TI-113
S'I'ATE
AND
'l'1-114
LA\V
..In
.lddrc*ss
to
thci
Ilaldane
Socictg
by
The
Rt.
Ilon.
Sir
FZartley
S
huzcxross,
K
.C.,
Jl.
P.,
At
torney-General.
WHEN
I
was reminded
of
the title of the subject on which,
so
your
Secrctary alleged,
I
had promised to talk
to
you,
I
felt surc that
there must be some mistake. Surely the word
'
and
'
ought to have
been
'
of
'.
I
could talk at some length about the state
of
thc law.
About the shocking condition
of
the Statute Book and the need
for
codification and consolidation
;
about various measures
of
law reform
which wc are considering for introduction when Parliamentury time
permits. And
I
could animadvert in some detail in regard
to
the
position
of
our case law, although
I
have no doubt
I
should get into
hot water
if
I
did. But
I
think that some day we shall have to
consider whether
it
would not be a useful thing only to report the
decisions
of
the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. Although
the danger is not ncarly
so
great in this country as it has become
in the United States, the number of reported cases is alarming: it
leads to us all searching hwishly for some long-forgotten decision
in a case which appears superficially
to
bear some resemblance to
the one on which we are engaged.
If
you are sufiiciently diligent,
it
is possible to find, in the jungle and wilderness which has been
said to characterise some branches of
our
law, an authority for
almost any proposition that
you
like to put
up.
But, as Lord
Dunedin said, the mere citation
of
authorities is inimical
to
clear
thought, and
I
always remember with affection, if
I
do not always
practisc, thc lesson
Mr.
Justice Swift taught me-und
I
learnt many
lessons at his feet, not all repeatable now-when hc saw me arrive,
armed with a lerge numbcr of reports, and said
:
'
Mr.
Shawcross,
which
of
those twenty-five volumes contains your best case
?
Rend
it
to me, for
I
shall
not listcn
to
any other
'.
I
am
to talk on
the
State
cind
thc
law.
That
is
n
pretty wide
subjcct.
I
want
in
the main
to
dcnl
with one aspect
of
it,
nlld
that
is the growing intervention of tlir Executive in matters which some
pqople considcr more appropriate for the Legislature
or
for thr
courts.
Now
I
am, mysclf-and
in
all
this
I
um cxprcssi~lg
a
purely
personu1 vicw--not vcry much attached
to
any pnrtici~lur dogma
about what the constiti~tionalists
call
thc scpurntioii
of
powcrs.
Whilst
I
have
due
rcvcrcnce and respect
for
the law,
I
start from
the proposition to which
I
think
all
Socialist lnwyrrs must subscribc,
that
the
Stntc
nrid
the
law
are mnde
for
mcin. And
I
want
to
1
\.OL
11
1
To continue reading
Request your trial