Centre for Public Law Seminar: 'Anisminic – Then and Now'

Professor David Feldman (University of Cambridge) will give a CPL evening seminar entitled "Anisminic – Then and Now".

Most lawyers agree that Anisminic was a seminal decision, but after 44 years people still disagree about the substance and scope of the legal principles which it exemplifies; as Lord Walker has said, 'its full implications are still open to debate' (R. (WL (Congo) v. Home Secretary [2011] UKSC 12 at [193]). This is not surprising. In common-law jurisdictions, judicial decisions are strictly speaking evidence of what the law is, rather than a source of law (one of the features that distinguish what we call 'case-law' from legislation). By examining the case in its original commercial, diplomatic, administrative and legal contexts, we might be able to form a better understanding of the reasons why legal arguments developed as they did, and the limits of their implications, particularly in relation to private-law duties and rights.

Seminars will take place in the Moot Court Room of the Law Faculty Building.

Faculty Members and Visitors, Ph.D students and LL.M. Public Law students are welcome. For more information contact Mark Elliott (mce1000@cam.ac.uk)