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BOOK REVIEW OF ‘WHAT NEXT IN THE LAW’ BY LORD DENNING

Submitted by

B. Mrunali Raj

Division: A, PRN: 21010224231,

Batch: 2021-26, BBA LLB.

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune

In
March 2021

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Kiran Sanjay Degan

Assistant Professor (Course-in-Charge, English)

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

(E-mail ID: kiran.degan@symlaw.edu.in.)

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CERTIFICATE
The project entitled ‘Book review of ‘What Next in the Law’ submitted to Symbiosis Law
School, NOIDA for English as a part of Internal Continuous Evaluation is based on my
original work carried out under the guidance of Dr. Kiran Sanjay Degan. The material
borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the research has been duly acknowledged.

I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for plagiarism, if any,
detected later on.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude towards Dr. Kiran Sanjay Degan for
helping me and being my guiding light for this project. I was provided with valuable insight
which aided me in understanding all the basics of this project, and also got help with any
doubts I had regarding the project.

I would also like to thank the library department and academic support of Symbiosis Law
School, Noida for providing me with different research sources and materials to help make
my project with the best of originality.
I would also like to thank Symbiosis Law School, Noida for providing me with this project so
that I could understand the basic information regarding English easily, satisfactorily and with
full detail.
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INDEX

S. No. Particulars Pg. No.

1 Certificate 2

2 Acknowledgement 3

3 Index 4

4 Abstract and Introduction 5

5 Book Review 6-7

6 Conclusion 8
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ABSTRACT
Lord Denning through this book talks about many descriptions of law cases in past times.
Some of them are of importance in history of United Kingdom; some of them are of
importance in establishing legal principles. Some of them are fascinating in themselves. Time
after time you will find that current events turn up in the courts of law. The author believes
that everyone should be concerned, seeing that the law affects the lives of all of us at some
time or other.

INTRODUCTION

The author starts by telling about a few men who did much in their time to reform the law. He
then tells about several topics and goes into details of proposals. He gets into intricacies
occasionally and legal argument abounds with them. He leaves the special topics finally and
speaks generally. He takes us to the Dimbleby lecture which he gave on the Misuse of Power.
He has tried to show in it that the most important function of the law is to restrain the abuse
of power by any of the holders of it, be it the Government, the newspapers, the television, the
trade unions, the multi-national companies or anyone else. He basically admits that most of it
is controversial and in fact, he has deliberately made it so.
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BOOK REVIEW

Part One

In this part, the author tells of some great reformers of the law. The first one is Henry
Bracton, who was a judge of the King’s Bench. Bracton was the first to make the law into a
science. He made notes of two thousand cases from the old plea rolls in the thirteenth
century. In his notebook, he says in Latin that if however similar things happen to take place,
they should be adjudged in a similar way: for it is good to proceed from precedent to
precedent. He has another legacy, Bracton served as a judge in the years of King Henry III
when it was paramount in men’s minds; he wrote in his treatise that the King should not be
under man, but under God and the law.

The second great reformer is Sir Edward Coke from Norfolk. He was cruel and unjust as
Attorney-General but as Chief Justice he was wise and just. Not many know about his
disgraceful conduct when he was Attorney-General, he prosecuted Sir Walter Ralegh who
was a poet, a writer and a courtier. On the other hand, when he became Chief Justice of the
King’s Bench, he showed great courage and stood up against the pretensions of the King.
Coke’s enemy Francis Bacon in the King’s Bench drew up a list of decisions of Coke which
were considered objectionable. Coke’s fame rests on his work as a law reporter and
commentator. Over forty years of court cases are covered in his reports.

The next reformer is Sir William Blackstone whose family came from Wiltshire and the
author believes that he was the greatest exponent of the common law. The turning point in
Blackstone’s life was when he was elected a fellow of All Souls’ College and he began to
give lectures on law to students. His immortal ‘Commentaries on the Laws of England’ is
considered a classic. The author has talked about two more reformers William Murray and
Lord Brougham.

Part Two

Lord Denning in this part talks about how firmly he believes in trial by jury and causes
celebres. He says that the jury played a decisive part in securing the freedom of the press. It
was due largely to the speeches of Thomas Erskine who is one of the greatest advocates of all
time. There also have been civil cases tried by the jury which are discussed in the book. The
author has given all those cases that how trial by jury dominated the administration of justice
in England right up to the end of First World War. Then, reforms of his time, good or bad are
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discussed. He then suggests proposals for consideration like to abolish the peremptory
challenge, the panel of jurors, special jurors for fraud cases, judge with assessors
alternatively, let minor cases be tried by magistrates, the qualification to be a juror, the
ordinary man is no longer suitable and a new way of selecting jurors.

Part Three

The author talks about the system of legal aid in this part which has been the greatest
revolution in the law since the Second World War. He tells why this whole system had to be
changed and the problems that arose with respect to fees and expenses of lawyers. He then
talks about side effects in old days, the coming of legal aid, drawbacks of the scheme,
criminal legal aid, proposals for consideration like legal aid should be granted with
circumspection, not without careful consideration of the consequences and other things.

Part Four

Personal Injuries have been discussed in this part. It evolved during the time when all civil
actions were tried by juries and all damages were assessed by juries. It was formed in relation
to horse transport and rail transport and is inapplicable to transport by motor vehicles. In case
of damages, the court has to speculate what may happen in the futureand give one lump sum
to cover all future expenditures and losses.

Part Five talks about libel, Part Six discusses about privacy and confidence, Part Seven talks
about a bill of rights and Part Eight is with respect to Misuse of Power.
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CONCLUSION

Lord Denning is basically concerned about what next is in the law this whole book is about
that. He talks about various aspects related to each and every domain of law. Few stories
about lawyers have been shared and few important cases in this history of law in United
Kingdom have also been discussed. The author decides to look into the future and set down
some things through this book in the hope that they may perhaps be done by those who come
after. He draws from a wide range of sources to support his arguments and incorporates
coverage of many different cases including the Russell baby, the Granada ‘mole’ and the case
of Harriet Harman, all of which are nominated on the grounds that the experience of the past
points the way to the future. Proposals of law reform have also been discussed in this book.