This book maps the changes in court advocacy in England and Wales over
the last three centuries. Advocacy, the means by which a barrister puts
their client's case to the court and jury, has grown piecemeal and at an
uneven pace; the result of a complex interplay of many influences.
Andrew Watson examines the numerous principal factors, from the effect
on juniors of successful styles deployed by senior advocates, changes in
court procedure, reforms in laws determining who and what may be put
before courts, the amount of media reporting of court cases, and public
and press opinion about the acceptable limits of advocates' tactics and
oratory. This book also explores the extent to which juries are used in
trials and the social origins of those serving on them. It goes on to
examine the formal teaching of advocacy which was only introduced
comparatively recently, arguing that this, and new technology, will
likely exert a strong influence on future forensic oratory.
Speaking in Court provides a readable history of advocacy and the many
factors that have shaped it, and takes a far wider view of the history
of advocacy than many titles, analysing the 20th Century
developments which are often overlooked. This book will be of interest
to general readers, law practitioners interested in how advocacy has
developed in courts of yesteryear, teachers of advocacy who want to
locate there subject in history and impart this to their students, and
to law students curious about the origins of what they are learning.
