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18 Denning L.J. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/denlj18 and id is 1 raw text is: THE DENNING LAW JOURNAL

PAYING JUDGES: WHY, WHO, WHOM, HOW
MUCH?
NEILL LECTURE 2006
Michael J Beloff QC*
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great privilege for me to be
invited to deliver the 5 th Neill Lecture following in the footsteps of such legal
giants of our time as Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Woolf of Barnes, Lord
Steyn and Lord Hoffman, just as the page followed in the footsteps of Good
King Wenceslas in the snowy wastes of Bohemia.1 After four aces the
Fellows of All Souls have clearly opted to play the Joker.
Pat Neill, the honorand, is fit to be ranked with Tom and Harry, not to
speak of Johann and Lenny, in the annals of the law although he abstained
from taking judicial appointment in this country. Instead, like a modern Pooh
Bear, he became Lord High everything else, notably - I make a judicious
selection - Warden of All Souls, Vice Chancellor of Oxford University,
Chairman of the Press Council, Chairman of the Committee of Standards in
Public Life and Treasurer of Gray's Inn.
My path has crossed with Pat's at several junctures. We appeared against
each other in court, most memorably in a case in the Privy Council Ng
Enterprises v  Urban   Council,2 which involved an    issue of major
constitutional importance, namely whether my client could continue to sell
Mister Softie ice cream in Hong Kong from mobile vans. There were no
Mr Softies in the Privy Council and they acceded unanimously to Pat's
argument that regulation of an activity could sometimes, if not always,
include its outright prohibition.
* MA (Oxon) FRSA, FICPD, FaSS, Hon D Lit Hum (Fairleigh Dickinson), President
of Trinity College, Oxford, Senior Ordinary Appeal Judge of Jersey and Guernsey,
Master of the Bench of Gray's Inn, Vice-Chairman of the Information Tribunal,
Member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Honorary Fellow Institute of Advanced
Legal Studies.
I must thank Lord Justice Thomas, Mr Justice Breyer (USA), Mr Justice Van Zyl
(SA), Malcolm Holmes, QC (Australia), Pathma Selvadurai (Singapore), Timothy
Castle, (New Zealand), Dr Charles Parkinson (Australia), Joanna Innes (Fellow of
Somerville), and John Baker, Chairman of the SSRB for their assistance in obtaining
material for this lectures, delivered under the auspices of All Souls College in the
Examination Schools at Oxford University on the 27th January 2006.
2 1997 AC 168.

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