The Lord Judge Memorial Lecture in Legal History [ONLINE]

Hosted by the Middle Temple Historical Society

Prof. Sir John Baker KC (Hon), LLD, FBA, Emeritus Downing Professor of the Laws of England at the University of Cambridge will deliver the inaugural Lord Judge Memorial Lecture in Legal History, entitled “The Royal Prerogative and the Judges” in Middle Temple Hall on Wednesday 20 November.

Prof. Baker will consider the relationship between the judges and the royal prerogative from a historical perspective, exploding some myths. It has always been for the judges to decide which of the king’s prerogative powers can be reviewed by the courts and which cannot, but it took some time to find effective means of control. The principal issues in the early-modern period were (1) locking people up without reasons, (2) setting up new tribunals outside the common law, (3) creating new forms of taxation, and (4) legislating by proclamation without Parliament. The procedures which eventually put an end to such powers, notably habeas corpus, were developed (notably by Middle Templars) in the reign of Elizabeth I.

The legal issues addressed at that time may be compared with those resulting from our ‘elective dictatorship’, Parliament having become an instrument whereby a modern Government can exercise more absolute power than that formerly attributed to the King’s prerogative.

Members of all four Inns and guests

Qualifying Session Details

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Learning Aims

After this session, students should be able to:

• Appreciate why Prerogative, an accepted part of the constitutional arrangement for nearly a millennium has to be understood by the prism of history in order to understand it contemporary political and legal salience, e.g., R (Miller) v PM [2019] UKSC 41.

• Understand why the exercise of the prerogative today can be subjected to judicial review.

• Have a clear understanding of historical antecedents of the Royal Prerogative and the role that certain Middle Templars played in its development.

Links to the Professional Statement, wider workings of the Bar, administration of justice or a public interest matter

The QS will align with these elements of the professional statement:

1.2/1.3

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