Pragmatism and Theory in English Law - College of Social Sciences ...

Theory Beneath the Surface 183
though he could not refrain from commenting on the lack of
moderation in the language—which might in the circumstances
have been thought well justified. But despite this
acknowledgement nobody who did not know the full story
would realise from the speeches in the House of Lords the
extent to which Professor Glanville Williams was responsible
for the ultimate result. It will be as well if future generations
of lawyers are made aware that this piece of law
reform has been almost entirely the result of the work of
academic lawyers, carried out for the greater part, in the
teeth of judicial hostility and scepticism. Fortunately, the
ending to this story 58 enables us to answer Professor Glanville
Williams' own question, Quis custudiet ipsos custodios?
The answer clearly is—Professor Glanville Williams, or in
default, some other academic lawyer of equal calibre.
This little episode needs to be remembered for a number
of reasons when the role of the academic and the place of
theory in the law are under consideration. In particular, it
needs to be borne in mind when academics are basking in
the unaccustomed praise of judges, when, for instance, Lord
Goff suggests that the law must be developed by judges and
jurists acting in partnership. 59 It would be churlish not to
welcome this kind of approach from a distinguished law
lord, himself also a distinguished jurist. Of course, judges
and academics have a complementary role to play in the
development of the law, and mutual respect and mutual
understanding of these roles can only be healthy for the
future of the law. At the same time, the academic must
58 Whether it will prove a happy ending remains to be seen, but at least the
present position is that clearly intended by the Law Commission and
Parliament.
59 See his Maccabean Lecture, "The Search for Principle" (1983) LXIX
Proc. Br. Acad. 169, pp. 185-187.