Cases, Causes and Controversies

From the Law Society Gazette, 25 March 2013:

"I wonder if the era of the great advocate has disappeared. Not many barristers, and even fewer solicitors, are famous now. In the past we had Sir Edward Marshall Hall, Sir Patrick Hastings and Lord Birkett, who thrilled the media of the time and then wrote their biographies with accounts of their forensic victories. We seem to have lost that interest in the drama of real-life court cases. The ‘decline of the English murder’, to coin a phrase.

As students we learned about real law through cases. Lawyers at least retain an interest in real law: sex, money, fame, religion and snails in bottles – it is all there. This book is a good mix of 50 tales from the courts covering murder, warfare, the press, sport and many others. The accounts of each case are interesting and include something new for everyone. It is not just a historical study of important cases but is bang up to date.

Fortunately, it avoids being too preachy, yet makes some interesting points. First, all litigation ends in failure for someone and lawyers are slap bang in the middle. ‘Be careful what you wish for’ is another lesson. Many litigants hoped for one result and inadvertently got the opposite. Courts are for the rich and powerful, have always been so and will probably always be so.

Are they the best place to debate issues? Have courts replaced churches as arbiters of morals? Have courts replaced the referees where disputes on sports fields started?

One wonders what cases will be written about in years to come. Will there be any interesting cases at all? The decline of legal aid may mean less dramatic cases. Read about it and enjoy the law while you still can."

"a good mix of 50 tales from the courts ... The accounts of each case are interesting and include something new for everyone."

From Bruce Rennie of the Christchurch Press. Mr Rennie is an award winning journalist:

"Legal cases, as many television programmes and movies show, have an enduring fascination, possibly because they usually have a clear cut beginning, middle and end. They also reveal much about human nature- behind every case, whether civil or criminal, lie real humans with all their arguments, passions and desires.

In this little book James Wilson, a New Zealand lawyer who has practiced in London and works for global legal publisher Lexis Nexis, retells the story of 50 celebrated legal cases from Victorian times to today. These short essays began life in journals aimed at lawyers, but are told without legal jargon and with an eye to the sometimes bizarre facts behind them.

From the story from Victorian times of the starving seamen adrift in a life boat who killed and ate the cabin boy, to the law suit against heavy metal band Judas Priest, whose records it was alleged had inspired the suicide of two fans, these tales are riveting."

"these tales are riveting"

From Mr Phillip Taylor MBE, Barrister, 13 December 2016:

CLEARLY A BOOK FOR THE SERIOUS CRIMINOLOGICAL GOSSIP….
AND IT IS A CRACKINGLY GOOD READ, TOO!

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

Wildy have published this excellent short book on “Cases, Causes and Controversies: Fifty Tales from the Law” by James Wilson. They are to be congratulated for producing another compelling criminological work which will be of great interest to specialists, practitioners and general readers at a time of renewed interest in this area of law. It is refreshing to have the varied titles which Wildy produce together with the main legal works in their portfolio.

Some of the areas the writer covers begin with the following question: what do the Prince of Wales, Ian Botham, Victoria Gillick, Bette Davis and “a man whose family grave appeared in the background of a splatter horror film” have in common?

Wilson answers: “each of them felt they had been wronged in some way, and each went to court to try and do something about it”. And they were often what we determine as ‘hard cases’. Wilson continues, saying that “sometimes their case was a purely private argument” whilst “others brought cases of national importance, or claims which raised acute moral and ethical principles”.

The author concludes with the result that “some won handsomely, while others lost so badly that they ended up far worse than when they started”. And therein lies the tale for the future… never go to law, unless you want to end up in a book like this entertaining legal read! Fortunately, some clients do not heed the warnings, whilst commentators say that people don’t read many ‘law’ books these days but that is a fallacy for this is a cracking good read.

It is a new work which looks at fifty legal disputes from Victorian times until now, where “a compelling moral or legal issue was at stake, or where the background to the case was interesting, amusing or infuriating”. Just the sort of juicy stuff for the reader to intellectually gnaw on!

Wilson starts with three homicides during Victorian times, including the jurisprudential favourite of Dudley and Stephens, the case of shipwrecked sailors eating the cabin boy and later facing trial for his murder. Disgusting but, unfortunately, true, and philosophically interesting if unpalatable for some who shouldn’t be reading law anyway if they don’t like to discuss these matters.

Wilson then covers cases ranging from the early days of the more sordid aspects of Hollywood and the two world wars, through to recent battles over “super injunctions” sought by the very rich, to MPs’ expenses, to the continually vexed relationship between religion and the law, and to the often “hazy relationship of law and sport” characterized today by the FA taking on the role of the CPS and the police- surely a further jurisprudential work in the making for the avid sports follower together with charities acting as prosecutors.

Of course, some of the stories border on the absurd and need inclusion in the late Gary Slapper’s “Weird Cases”. Questions like: why did the legendarily tough international sportsmen Botham and Lamb show “no fear in the face of hostile fast bowling on the pitch, yet go to their lawyers when their old opponent Imran Khan said something they didn’t like in a newspaper?” Perhaps they have too much money and not enough sense! Although you probably cannot get away with telling a client that truism.

As the author reports “irony runs through many of the cases”. See Bette Davis who was left penniless after losing her case in England and felt she had no option but to return to America and resume working for the studio she had unsuccessfully sued (for which they were very grateful although we never discuss “control”). There is the great ending because after doing so she became one of the richest and most and acclaimed actresses in history. Well done Bette and we all liked her films anyway.

The irony is “less happy” in other examples such as the indigenous rights campaigner Eddie Mabo. He won “a great victory for his people, but was shunned by them during his lifetime and never lived to see his final legal victory”. Such is life for many a campaigner. There are then what Wilson calls “the outright tragic” examples including the execution of the civilian Charles Fryatt by the Germans during the Great War, for example, shocked not only his own side but neutral observers of the day as well.

In modern times, “the blameless good citizens Dianne Pretty and Debbie Purdie were stricken with terminal illnesses and were forced to seek legal approval for their desire to end their lives at a time of their own choosing”. We are most grateful to the author for highlighting these hard cases in such an accessible way. It is written in a clear, accessible style, free of legal technicalities, the book will be of interest not simply to lawyers but to anyone interested in stories of great human interest and how the legal system tried to deal with them.

“The accounts of each case are interesting and include something new for everyone." That is what makes this title and similar ones by Wildy such a great series of stories for the avid legal reader.

"a cracking good read ... We are most grateful to the author for highlighting these hard cases in such an accessible way ... a great series of stories for the avid legal reader"