James Wilson reports on Mrs Gillick & the DHSS
On my first day as an aspiring litigator, a partner gave some advice: litigation always goes wrong. Perhaps there was some exaggeration, but it was a sound enough warning. After all, at least half of all litigants would probably agree.
Most often the negative consequences of losing a case are simply financial, but for others rather worse may come of it. Oscar Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensbury; not only did he lose, but he received a criminal prosecution for his trouble. A more tolerant age did not help Lord Browne of Madingley, who wanted to keep details of his former relationship quiet. He started by insisting that deference be paid to his status as the senior businessman in the land and a peer of the realm—in contradistinction, he argued, to the lowly status of his erstwhile partner and the Sunday papers who wished to publish the story. He finished by being exposed as a liar and losing his business positions into the bargain, all for the sake of the most trivial and irrelevant personal details. Jonathan Aitken,
