Spider Woman: A Life – by the former President of the Supreme Court

Product Information

I was cross at the prejudice and sexism she encountered and full of admiration for her overcoming them. She sets out excellent (in my view incontrovertible) arguments for resisting patriarchal status quo. I was reminded that fish are unaware of the water in which they swim…. In September 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson prorogued Parliament over Brexit. As President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lady Hale found that Johnson's prorogation was unlawful, terminating the suspension of Parliament. [18] Hale described the ruling as "a source of, not pride, but satisfaction." [19] In 2020, reaching the mandatory retirement age, Hale retired from the court. [20] Hong Kong judgeship [ edit ] She went to Bolton-on-Swale primary school and then Richmond High School for Girls, but at 13, her father died suddenly. Biographies of the Justices". Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019 . Retrieved 24 September 2019.

Spider Woman by Brenda Hale - Penguin Books Australia Spider Woman by Brenda Hale - Penguin Books Australia

It was her upbringing in rural Richmond that fired her interest in fairness and feminism. “It is the belief that women are equal to men in dignity and in rights and that women do have different experiences of life to men and those experiences should be as important in developing, applying and interpreting the law as are the experiences of men,” she says.Inevitably the issue ended up in the Supreme Court, which upheld the divisional court ruling. Three years later, in 2019, the supreme court had an even more loaded case to decide, and by then Hale was its president. University of Worcester (14 February 2019). "President of Supreme Court to Consider Moral Courage in the Law in Worcester Lecture - University Of Worcester" . Retrieved 12 May 2021. There has been a long period of underinvestment in the justice system. This has affected public funding for legal services, which is one of the things that’s affecting barristers. Another is underfunding of the court infrastructure. A lot of the court buildings are in a sorry state of dilapidation. Then there’s the underinvestment in prisons and the probation service. Every aspect of the system has been starved of resources for a very long time. It’s hardly surprising that the people who work in it are getting frustrated. I can’t remember barristers having withdrawn their services before, but I do remember a time when they protested outside the Houses of Parliament holding up banners that proclaimed: RECTIFY THE ANOMALY. [Laughs] Unfortunately, I cannot now recall what the anomaly was. Lord Reed sworn in as new Supreme Court president". Legal Cheek. 13 January 2020. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020 . Retrieved 13 January 2020.

ICLR Book review: The UK Supreme Court Yearbook, Vol 10 - ICLR

And, of course, she has spiders. It was a spider that dazzled on her dark dress on television in September 2019 when she, as President of the Supreme Court, delivered a devastating judgement that Boris Johnson’s attempt to prorogue Parliament in the rarefied run-up to Brexit, was “unlawful, void and to no effect”. I was thinking about other things – is my summary accurate enough, is it complete enough, how are we going to get through the day, are there going to be riots – not about spiders.” The story takes her from that little school in Yorkshire to the big university in Cambridge, to a career at the Bar which soon gave way to the lure of academic life, then a stint as the youngest ever (and first woman) Law Commissioner, before embarking on a judicial career that went, as it were, from High to Mighty. When she was appointed a High Court judge in 1994 (having confidently refused a place on the circuit bench) she was only the tenth woman ever to occupy that position (and this was 75 years after the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919). Although she was known as Lady Justice when promoted to the Court of Appeal, she was called a Law Lord (or Lord of Appeal in Ordinary) as the first (and only) woman to be appointed to the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. After the House of Lords became the UK Supreme Court, she went on to become its first woman President. If imposter syndrome did ever trouble her, it doesn’t seem to have got in the way of a career of great and varied success. Constitutional battles About the Author: Brenda Hale, Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, was born in Yorkshire and studied Law at Girton College, Cambridge. She was called to the Bar in 1969 and spent almost twenty years in academia whilst also practising as a barrister for a short time. In 1984, Lady Hale became the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission, where she oversaw critical reforms in family law and mental disability law. She also began sitting as a part time judge, was appointed a QC in 1989, and became a full time judge in the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales in 1994. She was the first and only woman to become a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, joining the appellate committee of the House of Lords in 2004, when it was still the top court for the whole United Kingdom. She was the first woman to serve on the newly created Supreme Court, was appointed Deputy President in 2013, and its President from 2017 to 2020. She lives in Richmond, North Yorkshire.A trailblazer, a staunch feminist within a man’s world of traditions and views, a wife and mother, a woman suffering from imposter syndrome. Lady Hale takes us from her early/school years in a North Yorkshire Village to the presidency of the Supreme Court. Along the way she is one of a small number of women at Cambridge, an academic in Manchester, the first female law commissioner and thereafter (along with Lady Butler Sloss) making waves and paving the way for women in the highest judicial roles in the country. Berglof, Annie Maccoby (12 August 2011). "Taking tea in Wonderland". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018 . Retrieved 11 August 2018.

Lady Hale: Spider Woman: A Life | SpringerLink

I can express opinions to a much greater extent than was proper when I was a serving judge. But I’m also very conscious that I don’t want to make life difficult for my successors, who have a hard job to do, and that I don’t want to get involved in party political controversies, because I’m not a politician. I did not know the political affiliations of my colleagues on the supreme court and I think that’s a very good thing If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us both an orthodox application of basic principles of our constitutional law and a remarkable assertion of judicial independence to protect our constitution from an unprecedented – at least in modern times – abuse of prime ministerial power.” Amos, Mike (5 April 2018). "Judge not lest thou be judged, but the column's still much impressed by Lady Hale". Bolton News. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019 . Retrieved 27 December 2019.

The Year 2019: The Annual Review of Girton College Cambridge. Cambridge: Girton College. 2019. p.56. As in previous volumes of the Yearbook, there are introductory essays examining the court’s role in terms of national and international jurisprudence and the legacy of its decision making in the overall development of the law. And there are chapters by leading practitioners and academics examining developments in particular areas of law, by reference to the cases on those topics that came before the court over the course of the year. The start of this book covers her early childhood and education. On the other hand, her mould-breaking feminism does not prevent her criticising the first woman Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, over her abject failure to live up to her oath to protect the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, when the Daily Mail savaged three High Court judges after their decision in the first Miller case. “It would have been so easy,” says Hale, helpfully drafting the form of words Truss might have used. It’s as though Truss has appeared before her as a less than promising student, whose essay is frankly not up to scratch.