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A Minority Opinion?
This lecture took place on 13 November 2007
A British Academy Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence given by The Rt Hon The Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, PC, FBA, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary; Chancellor, University of Bristol.
The difference between ‘academic’ and ‘real’ law is that academic lawyers are supposed to give their opinions, not only about what the law is, but about what it should be. Practitioners, including judges, are only supposed to give their opinions about what the law is. But it is not possible to decide the ‘hard’ cases without an idea of what the law should be. Some of the hardest cases involve minorities or disadvantaged groups. A judge must be free to bring a perspective (such as feminism) to her task which is not, or not yet, shared by the majority.
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