​James Wilson
Author
Links
Here are links to my other websites and to a variety of external sites. The page functions as an aggregator site of places I like to visit for work or amusement. I expect to update the page now and again.
Personal links
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My page on Wildy, Simmonds & Hill's website (only the first three books are mine).
Legal links
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One of the UK's best known legal commentators.
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An interesting blog by two American intellectual heavyweights. It has ceased being updated following the death of Prof. Becker, but the posts all remain and many are of continuing interest.
Carl Gardiner is one of the best-known of the thousands of legal bloggers.
Always one of the most-viewed legal blogs. Excellent content, regularly updated.
Authoritative commentary on the UK's highest court.
Cricket links
The most comprehensive cricket site on the web, without question.
No introduction required for cricket fans.
An interesting site with entertaining commentary.
An interesting, usually quite provocative, cricket site, to which I contributed a few articles. Sadly no longer being updated due to the owner's other commitments.
Cultural links
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Clive James' website has a great archive of his material.
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Letters of Note is now deservedly a great success.
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Old pictures is a superb resource of old photographs. So is the Albert Kahn site.
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Among modern photographers, I would recommend Anne-Marie Forker, who took the photograph for the cover of my book Cases, Causes & Controversies. As well as being very talented, she is outstanding to work with.
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The Spectator Archive is a great political and cultural historical archive.
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QI's website is, well, quite interesting. The programme has been of pretty variable quality for most of its existence. At its best it is highly entertaining; at its worst it is highly irritating - and sometimes wrong.
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The other QI is also quite interesting - a site dedicated to great quotations and their provenance. It is called 'quote investigator' and I suspect they are a bit gutted the English programme will have stolen much of their thunder or at least their traffic. But it's still a good site - found here.
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In a similar mould to both QI sites, Snopes.com is a good debunker of urban legends, though like all such sites it has its inevitable biases.
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I enjoy cinema. As well as the imdb, a good general site is filmsite. My friend Simon Clarke has created a fansite for his favourite film, Once Upon A Time In America. If like me you are a fan of Stanley Kubrick, there is a dedicated site here in addition to the Warner Bros Kubrick site and this archive. A good place to start is the Rolling Stone interview from 1987.
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Another good film site is selfstyledsiren - recommended by many authoritative writers too, so don't just take my word for it. Roger Ebert's site is still being maintained by others after Ebert's death, though the reviews are generally not of the same quality as Ebert's own, sadly if predictably. But still one thumbs up at least, in Ebert parlance. This site is also worth a look.
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I have found people either enjoy Vivian Stanshall or they don't. Those who do will probably already know of the Ginger Geezer website. I like the fact the Bonzo Dog Dooh-Dah Band was formed two streets away from where I used to live in Dulwich. The lack of a Blue Plaque on the house in question is a regrettable oversight by those responsible for such things. Incidentally both Tony Blair's slogan 'Cool Britannia' and the name of the band 'Death Cab for Cutie' were taken from titles of Bonzo Dog songs. I imagine Stanshall would be at least half pleased with that. One of his last songs was called 'No Matter Who You Vote For, the Government Always Gets In'.
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My friend Dr Simon Clarke teaches political philosophy - he has an interesting collection of newspaper articles on his site as well.
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For First World War buffs, the Great War Forum is an excellent meeting place for like-minded sorts.
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In 1979, The Advocates Society welcomed Lord Tom Denning to Toronto. He was on a tour publicizing his latest book. I was gifted The Discipline of Law as a call to the bar gift shortly after.
Forty-five years on—and a quarter century after the world-famous jurist’s death at 100—James Wilson’s new biography is an excellent and thorough review of the still relevant, and always controversial jurist. Wilson himself practices law in New Zealand and the U.K., and is an accomplished writer on legal topics, including exploring legal cases around the game of cricket. The result is not only a highly readable biography but an excellent reference source on the innumerable areas of the law that Denning contributed to developing.
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The book’s 23 chapters extensively cover Denning’s life and upbringing and every stage of his legal career. These are preceded by the book’s opening, which includes quotes about him and by him (never overly modest!) Among the mostly glowing accolades is a comment from Reuben Hassan, Professor Emeritus at Osgoode Hall Law School, who opines that Lord Denning “fell considerably short of the stature of a great judge (or jurist).” The late-Lord Brooke declares him as “rather a discredited figure.”
Through an examination of the man’s life and times, Wilson gives us insight into what drove both Denning’s innovation as well as his often moralistic, judgmental rigidness. His strengths and weakness in many ways reflected the changing society of England during his long life. The book is also meticulously footnoted with a select bibliography of over ten pages including reports or works authored by Denning.
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The last chapter, appropriately titled “A Final Judgement,” includes a critical analysis of Denning’s well known, catchy, succinct openings that he is so remembered for: “It all started in a public house,” or “ A man’s head got caught in a propeller.” While memorable, among other criticisms, the author suggests that putting the merits of the case up front with the facts was Denning’s way of getting the reader to agree with his decision.
In summary, Wilson has delivered a well-organized, readable, and interesting biography / legal-social history that should give a judicial reader both insight and knowledge of perhaps the most influential jurist of the modern era.