J. A. G. Griffith

J. A. G. Griffith
J. A. G. Griffith; FBA
Born	John Aneurin Grey Griffith; 14 October 1918; Cardiff, Wales
Died	8 May 2010 (aged 91)
Spouse(s)	Barbara Garnet (m. 1941)
Academic background
Alma mater	London School of Economics;
Influences	Harold Laski, Ivor Jennings, William A. Robson
Academic work
Discipline	Law
Institutions	University College of Wales; London School of Economics (1948–1984);

John Aneurin Grey Griffith, FBA (14 October 1918 – 8 May 2010) was a Welsh legal scholar.

He was born in Cardiff to a Baptist family and was educated at Taunton School in Somerset and at the London School of Economics.[1] He was initially a conscientious objector during the Second World War but he subsequently changed his mind and enlisted, ending the war as a major in the Indian army.[1]

After the War he lectured at the University College of Wales, returning to the LSE in 1948 as a lecturer in law. Griffith subsequently became chair of English law (in 1959) and chair of public law (in 1970). He retired from the LSE in 1984 and was afterwards elected as Chancellor of the University of Manchester, a post he held for seven years. He had been elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1977.[1]

Griffith's legal works, according to Martin Loughlin, "subverted the self-satisfied liberal-democratic view about the nature and functioning of the constitution, replacing it with a more realistic “what actually happens” account...his more explicitly political analyses tended to highlight the authoritarian nature of government and in particular the close political, social and class linkages of the elites in power". Griffith's also "advanced a radical critique of the role of the judiciary, especially when it strayed into the field of politics".[1] Griffith's believed that the idea of "the rule of law" was "a fantasy invented by Liberals of the old school in the late-19th century and patented by the Tories to throw a protective sanctity around certain legal and political institutions and principles which they wish to preserve at any cost".[1]

In its review of Griffith's 1977 work The Politics of the Judiciary, the Times Literary Supplement claimed that Griffith's "ends up aligned with the Baader–Meinhof gang in believing that every criminal trial is categorically unjust".[1] The book subsequently became a bestseller and Lord Denning later complained: "The youngsters believe that we come from a narrow background—it's nonsense—they get it from that man Griffith".[2]

Works

(with Harry Street), Principles of Administrative Law (1952).
(with Harry Street), A Casebook of Administrative Law (1964).
Central Departments and Local Authorities (1966).
Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government Bills (1974).
(with Trevor Hartley), Government and Law (1975).
The Politics of the Judiciary (1977).
(with Harriet Harman), Justice Deserted (1979).
Socialism in a Cold Climate (1983).
(with Michael Ryle), Parliament: Functions, Practice and Procedures (1989).
Judicial Politics since 1920: A Chronicle (1993).

Notes

Martin Loughlin, 'John Griffith obituary', The Guardian (25 May 2010), retrieved 23 July 2019.
Anthony Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain (London: Hodder and Staughton, 1982), p. 159.

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[Guardian-1] Martin Loughlin, 'John Griffith obituary', The Guardian (25 May 2010), retrieved 23 July 2019.

[2] Anthony Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain (London: Hodder and Staughton, 1982), p. 159.