# The Strange Case of the Law



## Vertigo (Jun 28, 2012)

Has anyone been watching this on BBC4?

Second episode was last night but I'm sure first and second are still available on iPlayer.

It's an excellent look at the history of English Law. Absolutely fascinating. However I'm not that knowledgeable about the law and was wondering if any of our law based members would care to comment on it.

It also has the distinction of being presented by Harry Potter. No not _him_ this is a barrister by the name of Harry Potter!  (I bet he was thrilled when HP became a cult thing).


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## The Judge (Jun 28, 2012)

Oooh, missed this.  Thanks for alerting me, Vertigo -- I'll have to try and find this.  I did English Legal History as part of my degree (it's so long ago now, it counts as ELH itself...) and I loved it, so I'm sure to find this interesting.


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## Vertigo (Jun 28, 2012)

I found it brilliant. Harry Potter conveys an enormous enthusiasm for his subject, tempered by a light touch of humour. I was very impressed. However not knowing an awful lot about legal history I was wondering how well it holds up under the scrutiny of better informed people such as yourself (ma'am).

You might need to be quick to catch the first episode on iplayer as they sometimes don't keep them up for long.

A few clicks and:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jzqgy/The_Strange_Case_of_the_Law_Laying_Down_the_Law/
The first episode is available on iplayer until 11th July.


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## Foxbat (Jun 29, 2012)

Saw the trailer and it looked very interesting. Meant to watch this but totally forgot about it (must be an age thing). Many thanks for reminding me about this.


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## The Judge (Jul 7, 2012)

I caught up with the first episode the night before last and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I knew quite a bit, but more from general reading than my ELH course (though I actually used the "To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice" quote** from Magna Carta in my dissertation!).  I'm particularly glad they debunked the blessed Thomas a Becket thing, which always winds me up -- though I was surprised at his linking it to the recent clerical child sex abuse cases.

Re the trial by ordeal aspect, they forgot (or ran out of time) to mention eating consecrated bread -- a guilty person would choke on it, an innocent would eat it without problem.  Which might actually be accurate since someone nervous through guilt -- and true believers would believe God could strike them dead, of course -- would have a dry mouth and therefore would find it difficult to swallow.

I had only two complaints -- why on earth they thought Rachmaninov's piano concerto was appropriate for dealing with medieval legal matters I have no idea.  And couldn't someone have sorted out the terrible knot in Mr Potter's tie?!


** Vertigo, I know you're interested in the nuts and bolts of writing -- look at the wonderful balance of that clause with the partial repetition.


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## Vertigo (Jul 7, 2012)

Ah I'm glad it met with your general approval, ma'am, it makes feel better that I wasn't impressed by what might have been a load of rubbish 

Must admit I didn't notice his tie, but I did notice some of the odd choices of music. But then I often think they pick very odd music for some documentaries.

And yes I like the quote, I find that sort of construct fascinating; it's interesting how things like that can affect how we read something and also how it can lock that something in our mind. I guess that is why it is generally easier to memorise poems than prose.


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## The Judge (Jul 9, 2012)

I've seen programmes 2 and 3 now.  I didn't enjoy them quite as much as the first, but still very good.  I'd have liked a bit more history, and less of the moralising -- we cottoned on very quickly he didn't like capital punishment so there wasn't much point his repeating his distaste quite so often (and he was rather blase about the real criminality of forging banknotes).  I'd have been interested in a comparison with other legal systems, too eg the French had lettres de cachet right up until the revolution, which allowed the King and his cronies to keep people imprisoned without trial 140 years after we'd passed a Habeas Corpus Act.

Potter himself was clear and articulate -- only to be expected in a barrister you might think, but believe me... -- though some of the rapid cutting from him in a taxi speaking to camera, to hearing the voice over got on my nerves a bit, and the slow portentous delivery was rather overworked.  Still, good intelligent TV. Thanks again, Vertigo.


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## Vertigo (Jul 9, 2012)

Hehe, yes I thought the slow 'portentous' delivery was a bit overly dramatic. I did somtimes feel I was a member of a jury he was trying to convince. Maybe that was his intent but possibly a little overdone.

A little more comparison with other systems would have been nice rather than just telling us how many things have migrated from us to those other systems.

I agree with your comment about him over-stressing, not just his dislike of capital punishment, but his overall humanity. Mind you I suppose we should remember that he was a prison chaplain before taking up Law. 

I was also a little surprised the BBC let him get away with the massive dig at government interference at the very end of the third programme (even if I agree with him [I think]).


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## The Judge (Jul 9, 2012)

Actually, I thought he was restrained at that bit!  When he started that last section I thought he was going to have a real dig about the independence of the judiciary which is a real bone of contention, with increasingly unpleasant snide remarks from politicians and papers.  In the event (unless I missed something, which is all too possible...) he merely commented on the volume of legislation which is simply preposterous -- and mainly driven by EU legislation on the one hand and the need for MPs to be seen doing something on the other -- and the poor drafting of a lot of it.  Am I glad I'm out of it.


By the way, anyone who is interested, there's only two days left to catch the first two episodes.  And anyone who watched Garrow's Law, there's a bit about the real Garrow (and a rather irrelevant interview with the actor who played him) in the third episode.


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## Vertigo (Jul 9, 2012)

It seems like I might have read rather more than you into his comments on government interference. But I do remember looking at the clock at that point and figuring he wasn't going to say as much as he seemed to be working up to.

And yes, I too thought the attention given to Garrow's Law was rather inappropriate. The time given to that could have been better used. But I would guess the BBC loved that bit and would have wanted it kept in. They probably also figured that a lot of people who had watched Garrow's Law would be interested in these programmes and would enjoy the reference. 

As it happens I didn't watch Garrow's Law and now rather wish I had


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