Lord Denning : towards a theory of adjudication : an examination of the judicial decision making process of Lord Denning and his creation and use of the interstitial spaces within the law and legal process to assist in the exercise of his discretion and an examination of those factors which influenced that discretion

This is an investigation into the methods and techniques used by Lord Denning in pursuit of his notion of doing justice to the case in front of him. The thesis examines Denning’s upbringing and biography to attempt to identify incidents and influences on his character which may have shown themselves in his later judicial career. The thesis then examines his judicial style and philosophy to attempt to isolate a theory of adjudication which accounts for some of his decisions. The theory of the interstitial spaces within the law wherein judges are entitled to exercise their discretion in coming to judgement is examined. This is then set against Denning’s actions in three cases which are examined at length to analyse his methods of obtaining the space to exercise his discretion and then the way he actually exercised that discretion is examined and analysed. There is in analysis of the legitimacy of each of these exercises of discretion and the legacy of each of them (if any). The conclusion pulls all these threads together and expounds a theory of adjudication that may fit these decisions and his judicial style and then analyses this theory against the background of modern jurisprudential thought.