© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Editorial |
Guest editorial on Hastings-Bass
Correspondence: *Serle Court, 6 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, London, WC2A 3QS, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7242 6105. Website: www.serlecourt.co.uk. After obtaining a LL.B (First Class Honours) at University College London and a LL.M at the University of Michigan, he was called to the Bar in 1964. In 1980, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel. As a barrister, he had a wide and extensive litigation practice within the UK both at trial and appellate courts (including the House of Lords and Privy Council) and abroad (in particular in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bermuda, the West Indies, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar). His practice extended from equity and trusts to commercial and administrative law. As a judge, he has given a number of leading judgments on important topics in the fields of private land in particular, trust and commercial law, of public law, revenue law and insolvency. He resumed practice as an arbitrator at Serle Court in 2008.
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Legal history is replete with examples of the turmoil created by the elevation of insufficiently considered dicta by appellate courts (often unnecessary for their decision) into general principles of law. By reason of the strict doctrine of precedent first instance judges are (or feel themselves) bound to follow the guidance proffered, however dubious they may be of its authenticity, but they often healthily betray their hesitation and doubt, engrafting on