This book considers how legal history has shaped and continues to shape
our shared present. Each chapter draws a clear and significant
connection to a meaningful feature of our lives today. Focusing
primarily on England and Australia, contributions show the diversity of
approaches to legal history's relevance to the present. Some
contributors have a tight focus on legal decisions of particular
importance. Others take much bigger picture overview of major changes
that take centuries to register and where impact is still felt. The
contributors are a mix of legal historians, practising lawyers, members
of the judiciary, and legal academics, and develop analysis from a range
of sources from statutes and legal treatises to television programs.
Major legal personalities from Edward Marshall Hall to Sir Dudley Ryder
are considered, as are landmarks in law from the Magna Carta to the Mabo
Decision.