Master Goff's Common Law Through Commonwealth Eyes

This paper is a tribute to Lord Goff, an English law lord. Lord Cooke assesses the development of the English common law from a Commonwealth lens. In particular, he discusses how in the second half of the 20th century, some courts in Commonwealth countries became bolder in diverging from principles established by the English common law. Lord Cooke then outlines how, in turn, the English courts became more willing to treat Commonwealth decisions as not so much “essays in the application of the principles of the common law of England” but as sources of comparative law. He concludes by noting that the fact that the “rest of the common law world” had grown up and “mainly [stood] on its own feet” did not at all diminish the international respect for English judges. Abstract by Elizabeth Chan.