LORD GODDARD'S age and character and the per- sonality cult
that grew up around him greatly enlarged the office of Lord Chief Justice of England. It had certainly grown too big to be filled by the Attorney-General, who may perhaps be consoled with the less exacting office of President of the Divorce Division or with the vacant seat in the Court of Appeal. The Prime Minister has done well to make a judicial not a political appointment, and it is difficult to see how he could have chosen a better man than Lord Justice Parker. The younger Mr. Justice Devlin, often thought to be his nearest rival on the Bench, was unlikely to be moved from the presidency of the Restrictive Practices Court whose growing-pains he is peculiarly gifted to soothe. (One or two of his recent Common Law judgments, also, have been a shade too clever.) The Bank rate affair gave the public a fine preview of the new Lord Chief's characteristic qualities—courtesy, firmness, pene- tration. I have heard him described as 'good alpha-minus'—not, that is to say, quite in the same legal class as his father, the late Lord Parker of Waddington. His chief fault may be lack of originality; he is not likely to initiate—though he may not oppose—many legal reforms. Criminals who appear before him will be treated with charm- ing politeness but will be sent to prison for just as long as they were before.
Previous page
