In Your Defence: True Stories of Life and Law

by Sarah Langford

Lawyers often say the law is important even to those who are unlikely to set foot in a courtroom because, as the truism goes, none of us knows what life might throw at us; any of us may become the unexpected victim of a terrible crime or a false accusation. But the law’s reach is far wider than this. The decisions made in courts across our country touch our daily lives somehow, no matter how far removed we think we might be or whether we notice. Our ability to buy and sell and to invest are made possible by a legal system that is trusted to enforce a contract fairly. From the cost of our insurance to our ability to hold our government and its institutions to account, good and bad decisions by the law reach us all in the end. The law seems removed because the archaic rituals and language of the courtroom belie the fact that our legal system is a living thing. It deals with the most contemporary of problems, reflecting society back at itself. This is why everyone should have an interest in protecting what we know our justice system can do at its best.