J. A. G. Griffith
J. A. G. Griffith | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | John Aneurin Grey Griffith 14 October 1918 |
| Died | 8 May 2010 (aged 91) |
| Spouse |
Barbara Garnet (m. 1941) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Influences | Harold Laski, Ivor Jennings, William A. Robson |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Law |
| Institutions | |
John Aneurin Grey Griffith, FBA (14 October 1918 – 8 May 2010) was a Welsh legal scholar.
Early life and education
He was born in Cardiff to a Baptist family, Rev. B. Grey Griffith ad Bertha, and was educated at Taunton School in Somerset.[1] He studied for an LLB and later an LLM at the London School of Economics.[1][2] He was initially a conscientious objector during the Second World War but he subsequently changed his mind and enlisted, ending the war as a major in the Indian army.[2]
Career
After the War he lectured at the University College of Wales, returning to the LSE in 1948 as a lecturer in law. Griffith subsequently became chair of English law (in 1959) and chair of public law (in 1970). He retired from the LSE in 1984 and was afterwards elected as Chancellor of the University of Manchester, a post he held for seven years. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977.[2]
Griffith's legal works, according to Martin Loughlin, "subverted the self-satisfied liberal-democratic view about the nature and functioning of the constitution, replacing it with a more realistic “what actually happens” account...his more explicitly political analyses tended to highlight the authoritarian nature of government and in particular the close political, social and class linkages of the elites in power". Griffith's also "advanced a radical critique of the role of the judiciary, especially when it strayed into the field of politics".[2] Griffith's believed that the idea of "the rule of law" was "a fantasy invented by Liberals of the old school in the late-19th century and patented by the Tories to throw a protective sanctity around certain legal and political institutions and principles which they wish to preserve at any cost".[2]
In its review of Griffith's 1977 work The Politics of the Judiciary, the Times Literary Supplement claimed that Griffith's "ends up aligned with the Baader–Meinhof gang in believing that every criminal trial is categorically unjust".[2] The book subsequently became a bestseller and Lord Denning later complained: "The youngsters believe that we come from a narrow background—it's nonsense—they get it from that man Griffith".[3]
Personal life
He married Barbara Eirene Garnet, with whom he had two sons and one daughter.[1]
Works
- (with Harry Street), Principles of Administrative Law (1952).
- (with Harry Street), A Casebook of Administrative Law (1964).
- Central Departments and Local Authorities (1966).
- Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government Bills (1974).
- (with Trevor Hartley), Government and Law (1975).
- The Politics of the Judiciary (1977).
- (with Harriet Harman), Justice Deserted (1979).
- Socialism in a Cold Climate (1983).
- (with Michael Ryle), Parliament: Functions, Practice and Procedures (1989).
- Judicial Politics since 1920: A Chronicle (1993).
Notes
- ^ a b c "Griffith, Prof. John Aneurin Grey, (14 Oct. 1918–8 May 2010), Barrister-at-law; Chancellor of Manchester University, 1986–93; Emeritus Professor of Public Law, University of London". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u18213. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ a b c d e f Martin Loughlin, 'John Griffith obituary', The Guardian (25 May 2010), retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ Anthony Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain (London: Hodder and Staughton, 1982), p. 159.