REVIEW OF 2021 (1): OPENING LINES OF JUDGMENTS: COSTS, BRASS, MUCK, UNHAPPY FAMILIES AND … ARCHANGELS

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   David Lamming · January 2, 2022 at 19:36:47 · →

   One of my favourite opening paragraphs is from the judgment of Mr Justice Megarry on 13 November 1967 in In re Flynn, dec’d [1968] 1 WLR 103 at 105A-C:

   Errol Flynn was a film actor whose performances gave pleasure to many millions. On June 20, 1909, he was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and on October 14, 1959 [I interpolate: coincidentally, Cliff Richard’s 19th birthday], he died in Vancouver, British Columbia. When he was seventeen he was expelled from school in Sydney, and in the next 33 years he lived a life which was full, lusty, restless and colourful. In his career, in his three marriages, in his friendships, in his quarrels, and in bed with the many women he took there, he lived with zest and irregularity. The lives of film stars are not cast in the ordinary mould, and in some respects Errol Flynn’s was more stellar than most. When he died, he posed the only question that I have to decide: where was he domiciled at the date of his death?

   (Megarry J’s conclusion was that the answer to the question was Jamaica: p. 120B)

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