Publisher's Synopsis
The book focuses on Eric Stockdale, the legal author, who has written many articles and books. For those who do not have time to read the stimulating originals, he explains how he came to write about a particular subject, almost always because of a personal concern about or personal interest in it. This book is about his experiences as a legal author, it also deals briefly with his life in the law and describes how he became interested in the different subjects about which he wrote. The book is not exactly an autobiography, but it is autobiographical. Its avowed purpose is to focus on the author's experience as a writer rather than his practice at the Bar or his work as a judge, although from time to time, inevitably there is an overlap. The more recent writings have focussed on issues of history, and in particular the history of events in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and the birth and early years of the United States of America. It is not yet appreciated that some of the most influential and active supporters of the then 'Revolution' were educated at the Inn's of Court in London, largely at the Middle Temple, and that there is indeed a 'special relationship' between lawyers and judges on both sides of the Atlantic, which is less susceptible to the vagaries of political fashion or of the affairs of nations which can sometimes mark other aspects of the relationship. Reading between the lines written by a modest man, this is a remarkable story by any standards. The reader, whether lawyer or layman, is likely to concur with that judgment.
