On Monday 16 June the Faculty was delighted to welcome Justice of the Supreme Court, The Right Hon Lord Sales who delivered the LLM/MCL lecture to celebrate the end of the academic year.
Lord Sales' gave an inspiring and interesting talk entitled 'Certainty and Flexibility in the Law: Insights from English Law' in which he argued that a central aim of any legal system is to maintain a healthy balance between certainty and flexibility. In his lecture, Lord Sales undertook a detailed examination of the essential tension between these two crucial legal principles, using the English legal framework as a prime illustration of how this balance is sought and achieved.
Lord Sales concluded that statute law and common law represent two different strategies for achieving the vital balance between certainty and flexibility. While statute law relies on democratic authority to make clear rules and change them when needed, common law relies on a disciplined, principle-based, and culturally embedded judicial process to allow for gradual evolution. He suggested that this fundamental tension is not unique to the UK but is a core challenge faced by all legal systems.
The talk has subsequently been published on the Supreme Court website.
The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session with the students covering a wide range of legal fields, and then a reception.