I went to the
Supreme Court to watch a very interesting case on vicarious liability.
Vicarious liability is a doctrine that I studied at Uni, and was one of my very
favourite undergraduate topics. I think I read more on that topic than I did
for almost anything else. Of course, when I opened my Tort Final paper, there
wasn’t a single question on it. Typical.
You might be
like me, and find vicarious liability fascinating. But most people are either
not fascinated by it, or don’t really know what it is. Which is fine.
What gets me is
that some of those people visited the UKSC on the day in question, popped into
Court 2, sat for about 5 minutes, and then ran off again.
I’m not
surprised they found it boring. Counsel quoting from cases they’ve never heard of
on a principle they don’t care about in the middle of a legal hearing based on
facts they don’t know is not a rough-and-tumble Garrow’s Law spectacle.
What I am
surprised by is that they thought the Supreme Court would be engrossing
theatre. It is usually Counsel quoting from cases you’ve never heard of on a
principle you don’t care about in the middle of a legal hearing based on facts
you don’t know. If you didn’t know that, now you do. If you didn’t know it, and
visited the UKSC, the TV screens showing the happenings of the court rooms
should let you know.
The idea of
seeing justice being done is a great one. But, unless you’re a person
interested by any particular legal idea, my advice is this. Go to a criminal
court. The stories will (generally) be better. The questions more factual and
more tangible. You’ll find it hard to not form a view. When you go, ask to see
the start of something, because that way you’ll hear the facts[1]. If you go to a magistrates
court, you may well see a full trial, because they are shorter. (I saw a man
defend himself by saying he had no intention of going to Disneyland Paris to
hurt Donald Duck).
I’m not trying
to put you off going to court. Going to the wrong court will put you off going
to court. Leave the dry stuff to those who know why it’s not dry.
[1] You really can, and
should, ask any member of court staff “What’s on that’s good?” and they’ll let
you know.
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