Hybrid | 'Not Time to Make a Change'? Reviewing the Rhetoric of Law Reform

Speaker: Professor James Lee (King's College London)
Chair: Professor Helen Scott (University of Cambridge)

About the lecture

How do we talk about changing the law? This lecture examines the rhetoric of law reform, and how it relates to the development of the law. As a case study, James will scrutinise the language of “modernisation” – a noticeable theme in contemporary proposals from the Law Commission of England and Wales. Recent project ideas, ranging from digital assets to disposing of dead bodies to the law of trusts, have characterised the existing law as worthy of reform in part because of age: the relevant area being based on long-standing common law rules or, for example, “Victorian-era” legislation. The Commission’s statutory functions include “the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments… and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law”. But what does it mean to “modernise”, and how do we assess the values involved?

James shall offer an analysis of the Commission’s communication strategies with regard to its different audiences. His thesis is that the framing of projects in terms of modernisation is a successful initial tactic, notably when dealing with politicians and the wider public. However, the strategy brings concomitant challenges for the selection, evolution and delivery of projects and the reception of any recommendations by government, the legislature and the courts. The lecture will engage with wider themes to explore the interactions between time and the law, and law and politics, in order to make constructive suggestions for reforming our law reform practices.

About the speaker

James Lee is Professor of English Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London; Lee Kong Chian Visiting Professor at Singapore Management University; and currently Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is an Associate Academic Fellow of the Inner Temple and an academic member of the Property Litigation Association, Chancery Bar Association and the Property Bar Association. His research interests are in private law, law reform and judicial reasoning. James lectures for the Judicial College of England and Wales, is co-editor of the leading text Hanbury & Martin’s Modern Equity, now its 22nd edition, and one of the incoming Editors of Legal Studies, the flagship journal of the Society of Legal Scholars. In recent years his work has been cited by courts in England, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia. In spring 2023, James will be Beaufort Visiting Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Watch the recording of this talk

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About Current Legal Problems

The Current Legal Problems (CLP) lecture series and annual volume was established over fifty five years ago at the Faculty of Laws, University College London and is recognised as a major reference point for legal scholarship.