The Animals Did Not Mind The Cricket

[zaremba]

When I was a law student we had the great pleasure of reading the judgments of Lord Denning. None better than this, in the seminal case of Miller v Jackson. This is how His Lordship's judgment began:

"In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch. In the village of Lintz in County Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last 70 years. They tend it well. The wicket area is well rolled and mown. The outfield is kept short. It has a good club house for the players and seats for the onlookers. The village team play there on Saturdays and Sundays. They belong to a league, competing with the neighbouring villages. On other evenings after work they practise while the light lasts. Yet now after these 70 years a judge of the High Court has ordered that they must not play there any more. He has issued an injunction to stop them. He has done it at the instance of a newcomer who is no lover of cricket. This newcomer has built, or has had built for him, a house on the edge of the cricket ground which four years ago was a field where cattle grazed. The animals did not mind the cricket. But now this adjoining field has been turned into a housing estate. The newcomer bought one of the houses on the edge of the cricket ground. No doubt the open space was a selling point. Now he complains that when a batsman hits a six the ball has been known to land in his garden or on or near his house. His wife has got so upset about it that they always go out at week-ends. They do not go into the garden when cricket is being played. They say that this is intolerable. So they asked the judge to stop the cricket being played. And the judge, much against his will, has felt that he must order the cricket to be stopped: with the consequence, I suppose, that the Lintz Cricket Club will disappear. The cricket ground will be turned to some other use. I expect for more houses or a factory. The young men will turn to other things instead of cricket. The whole village will be much the poorer. And all this because of a newcomer who has just bought a house there next to the cricket ground."

You get the feeling that if, say, the Manchester Guardian had been short of a cricket correspondent during the 20th Century, Lord Denning would have filled the breach admirably...

[Burgey]

Yeah, but he was out there.

[Dissector]

Did His Lordship write anything about the seminal case of Miller v Imran?

[zaremba]

Apparently in the end Keith and The Hon F.S. settled their differences amicably.

I've a feeling this isn't the first time I've posted this extract from Miller v Jackson on CW. It was the beer and wine last night...

[stumpski]

Nice to see that the club's still going, by the way ... and there's a link to the judgment on their site. Perhaps these days they have a match for the Denning Cup.

[Richard]

Thought you were referring to The Animals as in Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, We Got To Get Out Of This Place and House Of The Rising Sun for a minute.

[zaremba]

Nice piece on cricinfo about this case. Shocking to hear what Jerry has done to the Berlin cricket club, by the way.