The Imperial Hotel

CRICKET legend Learie Constantine had agreed to play in a moral-boosting wartime match at Lords.

It was 1943, and the popular West Indian international, a star for Lancashire, was a huge draw. Blitz-weary Londoners were looking forward to watching him playing for a Dominions XI versus an England XI.

Constantine had booked a room at the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square – but when he and his family stepped across the threshold, they were to set in motion events that would change British law.

The case of Constantine versus Imperial Hotels is one of a number the judge and barrister Inigo Bing considers in his new book, The Ten Legal Cases That Made Modern Britain.

He has identified landmark rulings that have shaped our world today – and considers how a cricketer, discriminated against by a hotel because of his skin colour won a challenge in the courts that kickstarted new legal safeguards against racism.

Constantine asked in advance whether there would be any problem with his family staying, well aware may places upheld an unofficial “colour bar”.

The hotel said no – but when they showed up, the manager, a Mrs O’Sullivan, proceeded to make a number of awful statements, saying “we are not going to have these **** in our hotel, he can stop the night, but if he does not go tomorrow morning his luggage will be put outside his room and his door locked”.

Constantine decided enough was enough. The incident garnered interest, questions were asked in the Commons, and the case would play an influential role in shaping race relations legislation. Importantly, it reaffirmed the legal principle that every human is of equal worth. It also acted to bring prejudice out of the shadows and into the stark light of public debate.

The judge-turned-author draws on his legal background to set out how while Parliament is the root of the laws that govern our society, the role of courts and their judgements, such as in the case of Constantine, has a lasting impact. He then embarks on a legal parlour game of identifying 10 landmarks cases that have shaped our nation.

He points out how judge-made law – common law – acts as a sturdy brake on government power, has laid out the boundaries of personal freedom and recognised inequality.

Bing argues that judges have played as key a role in shaping Britain as “politicians, trade unionists, entertainers, campaigners, feminists, writers, fashion icons and soldiers…” But they have been overlooked, and this book is an attempt to illustrate how.

Cricketer Learie Constantine

The chapters cover key elements of living together: from a case that considered the right to life to sex, race, power, free speech, protest, privacy, democracy, sovereignty and death. The book shows how each topic that is fundamental to how we interact with one another has relied on cases that spelt out rights and responsibilities. These cases have created a communal contract to adhere to.

For the layman, Bing explains simply that our common law “evolves through the process of judicial decision-making in a multitude of cases… judge-made law is not so much a fixed body of rules but a ‘living tradition of dispute resolution… great cases are only as authoritative as the political and moral values they represent and by whose forbearance that are held in place.”

This book is neither a dry legal text book or a comprehensive survey. Instead it is a delightfully written, easy to follow, walk through issues that surround us and shape us. Bing finds common themes in each case, and they highlight how the law is shaped by our needs.

They show the source of decision-making and power, considering the balance between the executive and Parliament, and where courts sit as arbitrators.

They consider how post-war ideas emerged about choice, family, morality and the rights of individuals. A third theme considered is how the law views frictions in society – how does the law act to halt discrimination? Can the law pass judgement on the right to express opinion and the right to protest?

As society develops – and as our scientists further the scope of knowledge – the law has had to recognise this and evolve. It means a fourth major theme Bing considers is how the law responds to the advances in medicine and the moral questions that this can prompt.

Other chapters consider cases that both seem to have ushered in a new world while reflecting the needs and aspirations of the present one. Bing considers the laws relationship to sex and censorship, drawing the famous Lady Chatterley’s Lover case in October 1960, which was essentially about whether DH Lawrence’s book was obscene.

“The arrival of the 1960s seemed to many a time to put an end to outdated laws relating to obscenity,” he writes.

The jury stopped the Director of Public Prosecutions forcing Penguin Books to publish a censored version.

Bing outlines how this marked a change in approach between the 1950s and 1960s.

“Churchmen, judges, head teachers and police chiefs believed one of their roles was to impose and enforce moral standard,” he adds.

“Homosexuality was illegal, pregnancies could only be terminated by abortionists who worked in the shadows of back streets and divorce among the upper and middle classes was frowned upon. Gay couples who lived together, whether male or female, had to do so in secret using euphemisms for their relationship. Heterosexual couples living together were labelled “living in sin”.

Bing adds that having the telescope of time to gaze down has allowed him to pinpoint cases of particular interest.

“Identifying trends in our time can be difficult,” he says.

“Looking back at Victorian times, for example, we can now see clearly how legal cases shaped that era of peace and profit, iron and steel, sewers, reservoirs and factories. Business was expanding, railway lines were cutting swathes through Britain’s countryside and the courts were full of landowners seeking compensation.”

He argues that while Victorian law was often focusing on the infrastructure, today we are able to consider how we live together.

“The challenge now is how we make our lives in the country the Victorians built,” he writes

“Today, personal space, autonomy and privacy assume an importance the Victorians never considered. Racial and sexual equality are goals that must be achieved if society is to prosper – and there is now legislation to promote these aims.”

• The Ten Legal Cases That Made Modern Britain. By Inigo Bing. Biteback Publishing, £25