Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Speaking in Court

Developments in Court Advocacy from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Century

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Andrew Watson

    1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers a readable history of advocacy, from a former advocate
  • Examines a broader period of time than other books
  • Devotes time to the 20th Century which is an under-researched area

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction and Structure

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 1-12

  3. Distinguished Advocates, Judges, Classical Learning and Other Influences on Advocacy in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 13-49

  4. Prohibition Against Counsel in Felony Trials and the Consequences of its Erosion

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 51-70

  5. Victorian Advocacy: Emotion, Melodrama, Floridity and Juries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 71-102

  6. Signs of Changes in Styles Before Juries

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 103-123

  7. Decline of Jury Trials in the Civil and Criminal Courts and Other Key Developments

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 125-134

  8. The Late Nineteenth Century and the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 135-151

  9. A Spectacular Quartet of Leading Barristers

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 153-172

  10. The Silent Revolution in Methods of Advocacy

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 173-203

  11. Changes and Influences on Jury Advocacy in England and Wales During the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 205-228

  12. Developments in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century Influencing Advocacy in the Civil Courts

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 229-261

  13. The Teaching of Advocacy: An Important Influence

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 263-274

  14. Appearances: Broadcasting and Dress

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 275-290

  15. Developments with Consequences for Advocacy

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 291-325

  16. Some Conclusions

    • Andrew Watson
    Pages 327-331

  17. Back Matter

    Pages 333-366
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book maps the changes in court advocacy in England and Wales over the last three centuries. Advocacy, the means by which a barrister puts their client’s case to the court and jury, has grown piecemeal and at an uneven pace; the result of a complex interplay of many influences. Andrew Watson examines the numerous principal factors, from the effect on juniors of successful styles deployed by senior advocates, changes in court procedure, reforms in laws determining who and what may be put before courts, the amount of media reporting of court cases, and public and press opinion about the acceptable limits of advocates’ tactics and oratory. This book also explores the extent to which juries are used in trials and the social origins of those serving on them. It goes on to examine the formal teaching of advocacy which was only introduced comparatively recently, arguing that this, and new technology, will likely exert a strong influence on future forensic oratory. 

Speaking in Court provides a readable history of advocacy and the many factors that have shaped it, and takes a far wider view of the history of advocacy than many titles, analysing the 20th Century developments which are often overlooked. This book will be of interest to general readers, law practitioners interested in how advocacy has developed in courts of yesteryear, teachers of advocacy who want to locate there subject in history and impart this to their students, and to law students curious about the origins of what they are learning.   


Reviews

“Speaking in Court is both delightful and informative. The premise is simple. … There is something here for every advocate and it should be on every advocate’s shelf.” (Tony Shaw, The Law Society Gazette, lawgazette.co.uk, October 14, 2019)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Andrew Watson

About the author

Andrew Watson is Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Before then he practiced as a solicitor and as a barrister during which time he acted as an advocate and appeared at all levels of courts. He was also a visiting lecturer on Advocacy Training Workshops at Harvard Law School from 1998-2003 and was an Assistant Professor at Niigata University in Japan from 1993-1995. 



Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation