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14 May 2021 / Alec Samuels
Issue: 7932 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Book review: Law in a time of crisis

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
48984
  • Author: Jonathan Sumption
  • Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
  • ISBN: 9781788167116
  • Price: £16.99

Released from the restraints of judicial office, Lord Sumption is once again a free spirit, crisply, elegantly, logically and challengingly examining our cherished legal institutions and theories and practices. It is a pity that Lord Sumption is not a real lord anymore, not eligible as a retired law lord to sit in the legislature.

As good old Lord Denning used to say, a good judge has to be more than a mere lawyer—he must be a man of science or maths or history or literature or philosophy or whatever. Sumption was eminently well qualified—a scholarly historian, especially in mediaeval history, of real repute. Aristotle, Coke, Dicey, Marx, Hemingway, all are quoted, among others. He found the old law reports and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography very useful in his cases. As a distinguished historian, he did not approve of statue wreckers; rage against the past is pointless.

Diversity in the judiciary has become

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: Surrogacy children caught in succession gap
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
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Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
NLJ this week: Do Mandelson and Mountbatten-Windsor meet the misconduct bar?
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
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A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
NLJ this week: Finality trumps freedom in arbitration showdown
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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