​James Wilson
Author
"Ethical dilemmas, nail-biting litigation, human crises - all are here. No wonder writers like the law ..."
- The Times, 17 December 2015.
"... an excellent addition to the bookshelves."
- Phillip Taylor MBE, 31 January 2016
Trials & Tribulations: Uncommon Tales of the Common Law
Trials & Tribulations was published by Wildy, Simmonds & Hill in 2015. Here is the blurb:
Why are court cases such a fertile source for writers of fiction and non-fiction alike? For a start, they usually have a beginning, middle and end; and a ready cast of characters playing defined roles.
They always have an inherent crisis to be resolved. But they also contain a great deal of human interest: behind the theatrics and etiquette of the courtroom, and the often arcane language and concepts of the law, there are real people seeking answers to real-life problems.
The common law is sometimes made by faceless corporations, or rich and powerful individuals seeking to preserve their money or reputation. Just as often, however, it is made by ordinary people who are not seeking fame or wealth, but who are simply trying to right whatever they believed has been wronged.
This book is a collection of 50 stories of notable court cases spanning more than a century. There are great ethical dilemmas – the tragic case of the conjoined twins where one, but not both, could survive, or the football fan Tony Bland who was left in a persistent vegetative state after the Hillsborough Disaster, and whose family faced the tragic choice of ending treatment.
There are significant legal cases such as Donoghue v Stevenson and Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company. There are also great Victorian scandals such as Oscar Wilde’s fall from high society, or the wrongful imprisonment of Captain Dreyfus.
Then there are more topical cases, such as those involving religion and the law and the ‘clash of rights’ that sometimes occurs when devout people find their conscience will not allow them to act according to the law.
And then there are cases that can only be described as absurd. The writer Julie Burchill was once sued by someone who was offended by her calling him ‘ugly’. In another case, an unfortunate marital dispute required the judge to look at reams of hard-core pornography, and to try to find judicially-appropriate neutral language to describe it.
Written in an accessible style with an eye to the human as much as legal interest, the book will be of interest to lawyers and non-lawyers alike.
The book can be purchased from the publisher here or from Amazon here.
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.