James Wilson finds one of Mark Twain’s biggest fans in the Court of Appeal
If there is a judge in modern times whose wit deserves comparison with the likes of Mark Twain, it is undoubtedly the now retired Sir Alan Ward, for 18 years a stalwart of the Court of Appeal, Civil Division. So it was no surprise that in his penultimate judgment, delivered after his formal retirement, a quotation from Mr Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) featured prominently and appropriately. The case, Reeves v Northrop [2013] EWCA Civ 362, concerned something with which the 19th century American author would have been thoroughly engaged—a wayfaring life aboard a houseboat. Unfortunately, it also featured two rather less engaging things which modern day English lawyers find tiresomely familiar, namely abysmally drafted legislation and pettyfoggering local authorities.
Tugboat tale
The case was brought by one Randy Northrop. He was a Californian in origin, but more of a wanderer in spirit. He moved to England in the late 1980s and purchased an old tug boat, the MY Cannis . He managed to convert the vessel into a houseboat,
