IT is not possible to understand the English legal system without
proper appreciation of the position of the English judge. By and
large there are two sources of English law: Parliament, whose
enactments are to be found in the Statute Book, and the judges,
whose decisions are to be found in the Law Reports. Statute law
is to a large extent formalised in its arrangement and language but
the decisions of the judges are the free composition of t,he judgcs
themselves. A judge may give the reasons for his decision extempore immediately following the argument of counsel. On the other
hand, he may decide to take time to consider his judgment, in
which event he will probably prepare a written judgment which he
reads in open court. It is entirely his choice whether he gives
judgment immediately or takes time to consider it; whether he
writes it out in full or speaks from his notes or his recollection.
Equally, it is entirely his choice whether he gives judgment in a
few words or commits himself to a complex technical statement of
his reasons. A glance at the Law Reports will reveal the astonishing variety in style of the English judges. For instance, in the case
of Re Diplock the Court of Appeal deployed their reasons in such
detail that the report of the case occupies ninety-nine pages in
the Law Reports. When the case went on appeal to the House of
Lords, the judgment of the House was given quite shortly, the five
speeches of the Law Lords occupying only twenty-seven pages.2
It cannot be doubted that the vigour of English law derives
largely from the breath-taking freedom of choice allowed to English
judges in the style and substance of the reasoning which they
adduce to support the orders that they make.
