Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I LAYING DOWN THE LAW: 600–1500
- PART II CONFLICT OF LAWS: 1500–1766
- PART III THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LAW
- 18 The Purity of England's Air
- 19 The Menace of the Mob
- 20 The Fear of the Felon
- 21 Garrow's Law?
- 22 The Tongue of Cicero: Thomas Erskine
- 23 The Drum Major of Liberty: Henry Brougham
- 24 The Bonfire of the Inanities: Peel, Public Protection and the Police
- 25 Lunacy and the Law
- 26 Necessity Knows No Law
- 27 The Apollo of the Bar: Edward Marshall Hall
- PART IV THE RULE OF LAW: 1907–2014
- Bibliography
- Index
26 - Necessity Knows No Law
from PART III - THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LAW
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART I LAYING DOWN THE LAW: 600–1500
- PART II CONFLICT OF LAWS: 1500–1766
- PART III THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LAW
- 18 The Purity of England's Air
- 19 The Menace of the Mob
- 20 The Fear of the Felon
- 21 Garrow's Law?
- 22 The Tongue of Cicero: Thomas Erskine
- 23 The Drum Major of Liberty: Henry Brougham
- 24 The Bonfire of the Inanities: Peel, Public Protection and the Police
- 25 Lunacy and the Law
- 26 Necessity Knows No Law
- 27 The Apollo of the Bar: Edward Marshall Hall
- PART IV THE RULE OF LAW: 1907–2014
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Tried by a jury and five judges as well
What they have suffered it is hard to tell,
They have been condemned and sent back to gaol,
And quickly respited they need not bewail,
The Queen in her mercy can soon set them free
And so end this terrible tale of the sea.
Anon, ‘The Terrible Tale of the Sea’But to stand an' be still to the Birken'ead drill is a damn' tough bullet to chew,
An' they done it, the Jollies – ‘Er Majesty's Jollies – soldier an' sailor too!
Rudyard Kipling, ‘Soldier An’ Sailor Too’As the nineteenth century progressed, and despite the proliferation of legislation as the source of law, leading cases and precedent had not disappeared from the legal scene. When important legal issues arose, the judges did not have to wait on parliament to act or ask a question: they could establish or develop the law themselves. They rather enjoyed it.
Before 1848 the procedure had been an informal one. Criminal cases in which a legal difficulty arose were ‘reserved’ for consideration by the judiciary in London. The question of law was ‘argued before the judges by counsel, not in a court of justice but at Serjeants’ Inn of which all the judges were members’. They could recommend a free pardon if they thought the prisoner wrongly convicted in law. If not, the sentence was executed or judgment was passed. Reasons for their decision were not given. In 1848 a statutory body replaced this informal tribunal. It was called the Court for Crown Cases Reserved, a quorum of which consisted of five judges. The Lord Chief Justice had to be one, and the others were usually the most senior judges of the Queen's Bench available. Should one of these judges insist, the case would be referred to the whole body of fifteen.
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- Information
- Law, Liberty and the ConstitutionA Brief History of the Common Law, pp. 241 - 251Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015