Kirby Seminar Series 2018

Friday, 13 July at 12pm

Lewis Seminar Room, W38 EBL Building 

Mr James Lee

James Lee is Reader in English Law and PC Woo Research Fellow 2016-17 at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London; Senior Visiting Fellow, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, University of New South Wales; and an Associate Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. In April, he was Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University. He is Subject Sections Secretary of the Society of Legal Scholars. He writes on judicial reasoning, law reform and private law. With Jamie Glister, he is the co-editor of the leading trust text, Hanbury & Martin: Modern Equity, the 21st edition of which will published later this year.

presents

Judging Reformers and Reforming Judges 

This article examines the practice and limits of judicial law reform. In particular, James considers the question of when initiation of a reform is appropriate for the judiciary as opposed to the legislature – an issue which has been a matter of controversy amongst the Justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. This question is assessed in the light of the institutional and constitutional competences of the courts, particularly with respect to the structure of common law reasoning. It is also argued that it is important to have regard to perspectives of the relevant judges in understanding the individual and collective approaches to the judicial development of the law.