WHAT NEXT IN LAW

In planning What Next in the Law, Lord Denning ‘decided to look into the future and set down some things .:. in the hope that they may perhaps be done by those who come after ... I decided to reach forth to the reform-of the law in several branches where it is in most need a reform – and where there is, or should be – a reasonable prospect of it being achieved.’

The book opens with the stories of great reformers of the past – Henry. Bracton, Sir Edward Coke, Sir William Blackstone, William Murray and Lord Brougham. Subsequent sections of the book deal with details of proposals for reform in various areas of the law – trial by jury, legal aid, personal injuries, libel, privacy and confidence. Lord Denning then. discusses proposals made throughout history, including his own ideas, for a Bill of Rights. Finally he treats the key issue of the misuse of power – a subject on which he is well known to have strong views. As in his other enormously successful books, Lord Denning draws from a wide range of sources to support his arguments, and incorporates coverage of many different cases, including that of the Russell baby, the Granada ‘mole’ and the case of Harriet Harman, all of which are selected on the grounds that ‘the experience of the past points the way to the future’.

The book also discusses the proposals for law reform which have come from numerous Royal Commissions, Departmental Committees and Blue Books and’ which have as yet all been rejected by. successive governments. What Next in the Law will be of great interest, not only to lawyers and law students, but to all who are concerned with the future of the law, which ‘affects the lives of all of us at some time or other’.

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