Lord Atkin – From Queensland to the House of Lords Exhibition
I finally got the opportunity to visit the exhibition on Lord Atkin – from Queensland to the House of Lords.
While everyone who has studied law or legal studies knows of his famous decision in Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] (The snail in the Ale case, I have written a photobook on this all important case here), few people appreciate Lord Atkin was born in Brisbane. His mother took him back to her native Wales after his father was seriously injured in a horse riding accident which ultimately took his life prematurely.
While Donoghue v Stevenson is regarded by many , me included, as the most important case in the 800 years of the Common Law, he also gave one of the most powerful dissections in history. This was in Liversidge v Anderson [1942].
Here, a young Royal Air Force pilot was arrested and held without charge for over a year on suspicion on having sympathies against his native Britain.
Aitkin’s strong position was that this was wrong, even at time of war. There must be evidence of reasonable suspicion. Atkin was criticized at the time but courts around the world including Australia have supported his view. Important to this day in an age of terrorism.
As always you learn from visits like this. I thought it a nice touch that he met and married a woman in the UK that like him, was born in Brisbane.
I particularly liked the section on him about the influential women in his life. His Grandmother, mother, aunt, wife, daughters and granddaughters.
I know how much the female relatives in my life have, and continue to, shape me.
This left me thinking that if more men had this positive influence there may be more respect towards and less violence against women.
