''Uncommon Law'' is a book by

A. P. Herbert Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH (known as A. P. Herbert; 24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971), was an English humorist, novelist, playwright, law reformist, and, from 1935 to 1950, an independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University. Bo ...

first published by Methuen in 1935. Its title is a satirical reference to the English

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

. The book is an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of fictitious

law report A or is a compilation of Legal opinion, judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. These reports serve as published records of judicial decisions that are cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedent in subsequ ...

s first published in '' Punch'' as ''Misleading Cases'' in which Herbert explores, as he saw it, rather absurd aspects of the law, and upholds his

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

with the protagonist Albert Haddock, representing Herbert's point of view, taking many to court. It includes perhaps the best-known of these cases, ''The Negotiable Cow''. Herbert himself said "Albert Haddock made his first public appearance, in ''Punch'', in 1924. I have always understood that I invented him: but he has made some disturbing escapes into real life". Over his lifetime Herbert published five collections, entitled ''Misleading Cases in the Common Law'', ''More Misleading Cases'', ''Still More Misleading Cases'', ''Codd's Last Case'' and ''Bardot M.P.?''. Stray cases also appear in his collections of miscellaneous humorous essays, such as ''General Cargo''. Virtually all the cases were assembled into two omnibus volumes, ''Uncommon Law'' in 1935 and ''More Uncommon Law'' in 1982. A shorter selection, ''Wigs at Work'', appeared in 1966. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

successfully adapted them for television as three series of '' A P Herbert's Misleading Cases'' (1967, 1968 and 1971: 19 episodes in total), with

Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice (26 May 1923 – 16 October 2017) was a British stage and screen actor. He played the antiquarian John Aubrey in the solo play '' Brief Lives''. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway revival of '' A Moon for ...

as Haddock and

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish actor. He began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. S ...

as the judge, Mr Justice Swallow who has to unravel Haddock's logic.

Selection of cases

* ''Rex v Haddock'': Is it a Free Country? : Haddock jumps off

Hammersmith Bridge Hammersmith Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in west London. It links the southern part of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the north side of the river, with Barnes in the London Boroug ...

for a bet and is arrested and charged with numerous offences by the bemused police, including "polluting a watercourse"; his defence is that "there is no law against it" and that he did it "for fun". The

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

disagrees, saying "it is a fundamental principle of English law that a person who appears in a police court has done something undesirable". When questioned on his motive that he did it "for fun", the judge states "We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament". * ''Tinrib, Rumble, And Others v The King and Queen'': Fish Royal : A dead whale is washed up on the shore of Pudding Magna in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and a dispute ensues as to who is responsible for its disposal, which becomes increasingly urgent as the carcase has started to decompose, making the town unpleasant to live in. It is contended according to precedent that the whale is " fish royal" and therefore the monarch is responsible; however, the

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

correctly points out that a whale is a mammal and therefore outside its jurisdiction. The appeal proceeds on the instructions of "the ''late'' residents of Pudding Magna", but is immediately adjourned. * ''Rex v Haddock'': Is a Golfer a Gentleman? : The frustrated Mr Haddock, unable to make his golf ball follow its intended trajectory, is heard to utter a stream of swear words, and is summonsed under the Profane Oaths Act 1745 which creates differing penalties for different classes of people, including gentlemen, to whom the highest rate is applied. Haddock argues that while playing golf, he is so bad at it that he no longer can be regarded as a gentleman, and therefore his fine should be lowered. He succeeds with this argument.

Vehicles for law reform

Being a law reform activist, Herbert, through these "Misleading Cases", aired, initiated and sustained debate on various aspects of the law in which he saw need for change: copyright, divorce, defamation, liquor licensing, the police as

agents provocateurs An is a person who actively entices another person to commit a crime that would not otherwise have been committed and then reports the person to the authorities. They may target individuals or groups. In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a ...

(usually Constable Boot) and rules of the road being some of the recurrent themes. At one point, Haddock turns himself into a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

and insists to the court that he be called Haddock, Haddock, Haddock, Haddock Haddock & Co. because the copyright law states that copyright expires fifty years after the author's death (in the United Kingdom) (the fictional judge asking "Would this be Mr. Albert Haddock? Then we are in for some fun litigation") but since a company being in law a

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

he objects to a

winding-up order Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

to shut the apparently defunct company because ''a company never dies'' and so its copyright can never expire. Every time the prosecution calls him Mr. Haddock he intervenes "You mean the

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

". Haddock argues that individuals should have the same rights as companies. The case is found in his favour, Haddock also suggesting to the prosecution that it is open to other authors to take the same tack as he has.

References

External links

*
Uncommon Law
' at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. *{{IMDb title, id=0061279, title=Misleading Cases Works originally published in Punch (magazine) 1935 short story collections Works about law enforcement Short stories about law Methuen Publishing books Works by A. P. Herbert

Selection of cases

Vehicles for law reform

See also

References

External links