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The Limits of Judicial Fidelity to Law: The Coxford Lecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

Jeffrey Goldsworthy

Extract

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This lecture asks whether judges might sometimes be morally justified in covert law-breaking in the interests of justice, the rule of law or good governance. Many historical examples of this phenomenon, are provided, drawn mainly from the British legal tradition, but also from Australia, Canada, India and the United States. Judicial noble lies are distinguished from fig-leaves and wishful thinking, and the relative importance of logic and pragmatism in legal reasoning is discussed. After examining arguments for and against judicial subterfuge, it is concluded that in modern liberal democracies subterfuge is justified only to avoid extreme injustices or violations of the rule of law.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , July 2011 , pp. 305 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 2011 

References

I thank Mr Steven Coxford for so generously enabling the University of Western Ontario Law School to host this lecture series, and Grant Huscroft for the great honour of inviting me to give the 2010 lecture, now revised and enlarged.

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