Book review: The Safest Shield: Lectures, Speeches and Essays

During and after his six years as Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge delivered numerous speeches and lectures—to fellow judges, to the Judicial College, at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, in his Inn and in his native Malta. The texts of many of these talks have now been gathered together in this volume. They include a number of issues he felt deeply about, from the role of the judges to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law; from the separation of powers to the accreditation of expert witnesses; from telling judges what their duties and responsibilities are to explaining to the outside world the difficulties judges have in discharging those duties; and most especially sentencing. The title is taken from Sir Edward Coke (“The law is the safest helmet; under the shield of the law no one is deceived”). Sad to say, Coke wound up in the Tower for refusing “to see his responsibilities in quite the