Geoffrey Bindman is reminded of the fine balance between judicial independence & democracy
The death of Professor John Griffith of LSE at the age of 91 reminds us of his most famous book The Politics of the Judiciary first published in 1977. Its aim was to explode the myth of judicial objectivity. His claim was that judges were influenced in reaching their decisions—albeit unintentionally—by their particular experience, including their education and social background.
While today this seems so obvious as to be beyond debate, John Griffith met with considerable hostility from many in the profession, especially some senior judges. Of course the background of most judges was in the affluent middle and upper class and their education at public schools and Oxbridge. It still is. But it was Griffith who made the argument that this exclusivity affected their ability to be impartial and to understand the cases coming before them.
Lord Denning was scathing. “The youngsters believe we come from a narrow background—it’s all nonsense—they get it from that man Griffith”, he said.
Denning certainly had a better claim than
