Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 13:18:29 +0100

From: John Murphy

Subject: Question from John Murphy

Dear all,

I got the following question put to me by a colleague:

"Can you think of any cases in which a judge has said something to the effect that: "The court would have liked to have overruled this precedent some years ago but felt unable to do so while the judge responsible for the precedent was still alive"? Obviously there can't have been anything so brutally worded, and in English law I suppose it could only happen after 1966, but basically I'm looking for examples of where judges have clearly been unwilling to disturb a precedent until the precedent-setting judge was no longer around".

I couldn't think of any case off the top of my head. Is there anyone out there who knows of any such statement?

John Murphy
University of Manchester
Tel + 44 (0)161 275 3573
Fax + 44 (0)161 275 3579

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