Yesterday I was really quite sure that I had my heart set on citing Loughlin's book review as my chosen article. Today, however, the book arrived (I speak of Mark D. Walters' A.V. Dicey and the Common Law Constitutional Tradition - A Legal Turn of Mind published by Cambridge University Press). It is a remarkable work, sincerely. More than simply outlining a biography (yet another biography) of Dicey's really quite curious life and works, it also highlights a number of other important works on the subject of constitutional law. I am only part way through the work, but from the first page I find it compelling, interesting and eminently readable. I shall most certainly be choosing that as my chosen academic source, rather than a mere book review. Among the works cited there is a certain book entitled Constitutional Justice by Trevor Allen (2001) which may yet prove to be informative reading.
I like Dicey, very much. Evidently, his work(s) - for better or worse - have left an indelible mark upon the history of the UK constitution, and shall almost certainly remain so (even if there are a number of scalding and partisan critiques of his life's works). Does Dicey still remain relevant? To me he does, though I am well aware that there are many others that do not believe so. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this book, is that the author - Mark Walters - has taken the time and trouble to eagerly seek out very many personal letters written to and from Dicey, upon which he draws during the course of its pages. It is rather like an overview of Pliny the Younger's works, or perhaps even Cicero's. Even as someone that has become disillusioned with politics, someone that no longer votes, and comes from a... background of tending towards the edges of the political horseshoe, I find Dicey really quite a fascinating character. He is liberal, almost scientific in his treatment of the UK (well, English) constitution. A 'Mid-Victorian' as he described himself, he was eccentric, brilliant, far underrated in his own time, and underachiever (in his own eyes at least). Dicey never attained his goals: wishing a successful political career as an orator, or indeed as a judge, and he even refused a knighthood! Dicey strikes me as a kind of 'all or nothing' type of chap, and I like that, very much.
Today I searched in vain in the supermarket for that fair flower whose attentions gravitated towards me yesterday. I should think nothing of this, but I do. I thought, perhaps, that this charming thirty-something might have finished work at the same time as she did yesterday, and be there again, but alas no. It is of no consequence. Should it be the will of Divine Providence, our paths may yet cross again.
Work (Hades) was as it always is, a boring chore. Though there were moments of levity, this is merely the calm before the storm, for weekends are always the toughest. I cannot help but feel in the back of my mind that all this reading, all the study I have done, amounts to nothing, nay, less than nothing (to the tune of £25,000, minus the hundreds and hundreds of pounds spent on books). Still, I press on, undettered. I should imagine that even if I am of no value here, in my once beloved homeland, that there are places in the world where holding a master's degree actually means something. It is quite certain that were I in any country in the world other than this one, I would be held in much higher regard than I am here, and that I would certainly not be doing unskilled labour for the barest minimum remuneration.
No comments:
Post a Comment