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Book review: A short book of bad judges

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
23 May 2014 / James Wilson
Issue: 7607 / Categories: Features
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"Darling’s chief crime was what Bacon called a lack of gravity; for more modern readers he seems to have been something of a David Brent"
Author: Graeme Williams QC
Publisher: Wildy, Simmonds & Hill
ISBN: 9780854901418
​Price: £9.99

In R v Sussex Justices; ex parte McCarthy [1924] 1 KB 256, 259, Lord Hewart LCJ famously said: “It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance, that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.”

Best baddies?

The aphorism found its way into the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations . Ironically, while it might be one of the greatest legal quotes of the 20th century, it was made by one of the very worst judges. In 1985, Lord Devlin wrote ( Easing the Passing: the Trial of Dr John Bodkin Adams ): “Hewart…has been called the worst Chief Justice since Scroggs and Jeffries in the 17th century. I do not think that this is quite fair. When one considers

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