Lord Devlin

Lord Devlin was a leading lawyer of his generation. Moreover, he was one of the most recognised figures in the judiciary, thanks to his role in the John Bodkin Adams trial and the Nyasaland Commission of Inquiry. It is hard then to believe that he retired as a Law Lord at a mere 58 years of age. This important book looks at the life, influences and impact of this most important judicial figure. Starting with his earliest days as a schoolboy before moving on to his later years, the author draws a compelling picture of a complex, brilliant man who would shape not just the law but society more generally in post-war Britain.

Are morals always relative? Are private actions--among consenting adults-- always beyond the law? Or are there some behaviors which so weaken a society that common beliefs about right and wrong must be enforced to protect the common good? In opposing the decriminalization of private acts of homosexuality in Britain, Patrick Devlin maintained that not only is it reasonable to allow popular morality to influence lawmaking, it is imperative: " . . . For a society is not something that is kept together physically; it is held by the invisible bonds of common thought." Today, as divisive issues such as same-sex marriage and "don't ask, don't tell" confront our legislative, judicial, and executive branches, the views expressed by Devlin in The Enforcement of Morals resonate and reverberate anew. Patrick Devlin (1905-1992) studied history and law at Cambridge University and became a successful lawyer.

ISBN: 0-421-40210-5 Contains the text of lectures on Origin of the Jury, The Composition of the Jury, The Jury as a Judicial Tribunal, The Control of the Jury, and the Decline of the Jury and Its Strength.

Devlin of Duncaer is the Chosen One, champion of the Kingdom of Jorsk. A simple metalsmith and farmer turned warrior, he has become the most unlikely of heroes to the conquerors of his own people, the Caerfolk. Yet there is a growing faction of Jorskians who believe that if he were truly anointed as Chosen One by the Gods, then the immortals would have given him the Sword of Light as proof of his calling. Missing for generations, the sword is more myth than reality. But Devlin knows where to find it. Lost in battle after the Jorskians’ brutal massacre of Caerfolk, it has remained in Duncaer, a souvenir of one of the land’s darkest days. Feeling more than ever a pawn of fate—and a plaything of the Gods who drive him—Devlin must return to the land of his birth, back to the people who have denounced him. For he is bound by an oath he has no choice but to obey...a promise he may have to die to keep.

This book celebrates the scholarship of Peter Cane. The significance and scale of his contributions to the discipline of law over the last half-century cannot be overstated. In an era of increasing specialisation, Cane stands out on account of the unusually broad scope of his interests, which extend to both private and public law in equal measure. This substantive breadth is combined with remarkable doctrinal, historical, comparative and theoretical depth. This book is written by admirers of Cane's work, and the essays probe a wide range of issues, especially in administrative law and tort law. Consistently with the international prominence that Cane's research has enjoyed, the contributors are drawn from across the common law world. The volume will be of value to anyone who is interested in Cane's towering contributions to legal scholarship and administrative law and tort law more generally.