Uncommon Law

Blurb

Uncommon Law is a book by A. P. Herbert first published by Methuen in 1935. Its title is a satirical reference to the English common law. The book is an anthology of fictitious law reports first published in Punch in which Herbert explores, as he saw it, rather absurd aspects of the law, and upholds his civil liberties with the protagonist Albert Haddock, representing Herbert's point of view, taking many to court. It includes perhaps the most well-known of these cases, The Negotiable Cow. Herbert himself said "Albert Haddock made his first public appearance, in Punch, in 1924. I have always understood that I invented him: but he has made some disturbing escapes into real life".
A television series was made between 1967 and 1971 of many of the cases, starring Roy Dotrice as Haddock, and more often than not Alastair Sim as Mr. Justice Swallow, the judge who has to unravel Haddock's logic.