Law Commons^™

The Common Law In The Twentieth Century, A. J. Stone Q.C.

Dalhousie Law Journal

Comparing the judicial with the legislative approach to law-making is the stuff of academic debate. I do not propose to enter upon that debate in this short discussion, except to concede that each approach has its strengths, each its weaknesses, and each its separate role. My purpose is, rather, to examine the making of law by the judiciary as it illustrates the inherent capacity of the common law for change and for growth in a dynamic society. This century has seen several extraordinary developments of the common law in Canada, England, and the United States, the leading example of which …