A GREAT ADVOCATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21769, 7 April 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

A GREAT ADVOCATE

READING AND HIS CASES " The life of a great advocate is a social document," says Mr. Derek Walker-Smith in introducing hi* review of Lord Reading and his great legal career. Mr. Walker-Smith establishes his case well, and his book is a social document in itself —a tribute to a great man and a great career, a linger-post to a great modern mind and something that mirrors in its style and language the qualities of one ot the leading figures of the age. It is a first-rate biography from the point ot view even of the lav reader, and is well worthy of the recommendation ot the Book Societv, which it carries.

Rul'us Isaacs was the sou of a moderately well-to-do .Jewish family in London. As a boy he had high spirits in plenty, and ran away to sea as a cabin boy. Early in his life he met failure, and was " hammered " on the Stocx Exchange. From the wreckage of one career, be set to work to build up a new. He read for the Bar, won considerable success as a junior, and then, on taking " silk." rose to a commanding position in the legal world at a time when bis adversaries and competitors numbered men of the calibre of Carson and Marshall Hall among their ranks. He had his political triumphs as well, became SolicitorGeneral and Attorney-General, and even had the settled career of a Lord Chief Justice interrupted to hold high offices of state in the United States and India. Truly a man out of the ordinary, especially as he lacked the scholarship of the older universities, generally regarded as an important stepping-stone to high legal honours. Great Cases Reviewed Mr. Walker-Smith views Lord Reading as an independent admirer, and confines himself almost wholly to the legal aspects of a notable career. Polities, naturally, enter into the account, but Reading as High Commissioner in the United States and Reading as Viceroy are only figures of passing mention. But the most famous of the eases pleaded by Rufiis Isaacs the attorney and heard by Lord Reading the -judge are recounted with spirit and candour in a fashion that makes them take on new life out of the dusty tomes of a legal past. Among the great cases reviewed are the Liverpool Bank case, the Hartopp divorce, the trial of Whittaker Wright, the financier, the " Gaiety Girl Divorce Case," the famous Seddons murder trial, the inquiry into the Titanic disaster, a sheaf of highly interesting and important libel actions, and, perhaps most notable, the treason trial of Roger Casement. These and other cases are all handled with -skill and judgment. Many-sided Genius

Mr. Walker-Smith, in his appreciation of a many-sided genius, holds that Lord "Reading was a better lawyer than a politician and a better advocate than a judge. He illustrates his argument well and never sacrifices the interest in the study of the man. " "With Rufus Isaacs," he says. " it was in the courts as in his conduct of life: he did not challenge; he charmed. And, as a result, opposition did not yield—it did not have to; it simply dissolved." There are some delightful passages in the book which may be classed as asides. Thus, when Mr. Walker-Smith is referring to the slave exposures made by Roger Casement, he says: " The horror caused by his revelations was intense, and his name became something to be reckoned with in the Chancelleries of Europe and an object of veneration in the houses of the people: for gratitude is always felt for those who arouse the national conscience by the exposure of conditions which are sufficientlv remote."

Altogether, the book provides a highly valuable contribution to the growing list of " lives " of great men of our age. Mr. Walker-Smith limited his own scope in writing it, and it is to be hoped that companion volumes in the near future will come from his able pen. " Lord Reading and His Cases," by Derek Walker-Smith. (Chapman and Hall.)