“Fair and Just” – School hosts prestigious Hamlyn lecture

The School of Law and Politics played host to the first Hamlyn lecture of the 2016 series; welcoming The Rt. Hon. Dame Sian Elias, GNZM, Chief Justice of New Zealand to Cardiff in November.

Dame Sian's lecture “Fair and Just” was the first in a three part series “Golden Threads and Pragmatic Patches: Fairness in Criminal Justice” and was chaired by The Rt Hon Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales on 8 November 2016.

Dame Sian Elias had specifically requested that the first of the series take place in Cardiff University due to her strong familial links with Wales and specifically with the city. The lecture attracted a large audience of around 150 guests which included members of the Learned Society of Wales (which co-hosted the evening) including its CEO, Professor Peter Halligan, and Treasurer, Professor John Wyn Owen; Mrs Justice Nicola Davies and  Mr Justice Clive Lewis .

The Hamlyn Trust was created in 1948 by Miss Emma Hamlyn in memory of her father, a solicitor and Justice of the Peace in Torquay, Devon.  The object of the Trust is to further knowledge and understanding of the law through an annual series of public lectures by distinguished judges, legal practitioners, academic lawyers and other eminent speakers.  The Trust represents the oldest series of public lectures in the Common Law world and, according to the Trust’s Chair, can now claim to be the most prestigious in the UK.  Speakers are invited from eminent members of the legal profession, legal academia and public life from all Common Law jurisdictions.  The lectures are published by Cambridge University Press.