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

36 Pragmatism and Theory in English Law
tion: "I suppose your knowledge all comes from books?"
The witness answered, not unfairly, as it seemed to me, that
that was one of the usual ways of acquiring knowledge. 73
But the scepticism about the value of book learning seems
to me to persist, as is reflected by the continued strength of
the system of articles and of devilling in chambers. It is,
after all, not long since the ablest intending legal practitioners
were recommended to read classics at Oxford, and
then "pick up [their] law as [they went] along." 74
The academic is also expected to do research and to
write, but what kind of research is he expected to indulge
in? Well, in very recent times, academics have begun to do
serious empirical research into the workings of the legal system
in a whole variety of ways. For instance, they have
begun to study the workings of the court system in a
number of different areas, such as in the sentencing system,
75 in regard to bail, 76 legal aid, 77 family law matters, 78
as well as in regard to accident compensation. 79 Some of
73 I cannot now trace this exchange.
74 Lawson, The Rational Strength of English Law, (1951) p. 29.
75 See, e.g. Ashworth, The English Criminal Process: A Review of Empirical
Research (1984).
76 See, e.g. King, Bail or Custody (1971)—a piece of empirical research
which is now somewhat out of date, but was almost the first serious
attempt to study what actually happened when prisoners asked for bail.
77 Figures on criminal legal aid for indictable offences are now published in
the annual Criminal Statistics, but little is still published about legal aid
in magistrates' courts. See generally, Zander, [1969] Crim. L.R. 632.
78 See, e.g. Eekelaar and Clive, Custody after Divorce (Centre for Socio-Legal
Studies, 1977) and Eekelaar and Maclean, Maintenance After Divorce
(1985) for samples of a substantial piece of empirical research in this
area.
79 See, e.g. Harris et al, Compensation and Support for Illness and Injury (Oxford,
1984). It must not be forgotten that some of the earliest work in this area
(by Ison, see his The Forensic Lottery (1967)) pre-dated the Pearson
Report by many years.