An essential examination of the hinterland between the law and politics, judges and politicians.

'Thoughtful, stimulating and even entertaining ... Lord Sumption's opinion is always worth listening to, even - or especially - if one disagrees with it.' Daily Telegraph 'Time spent on Law in a Time of Crisis is time spent in the company of a brilliant mind considering interesting things' The Times Brexit, the independence referendum, the pandemic: the UK is a country in crisis. And, in crises, we turn to the law to set the boundaries of what the government can and should do. However, in a country with no written constitution, what sounds like a simple proposition is in fact anything but. Based on his 2019 Reith lectures, former Supreme Court Judge Jonathan Sumption asks: what are the limits of law in politics? Is not having a constitution a hindrance or help in times of crisis? From referenda to the rise of nationalisms, Law in a Time of Crisis exposes the uses and abuses of legal intervention in British crises - past, present, and potential.

"time spent on Law in a Time of Crisis is time spent in the company of a brilliant mind considering interesting things ... any person of broadly liberal instinct will find much in this enjoyable book to agree with and much that can improve one's way of thinking and of making an argument" - the Times

"Sumption has always been more than just a lawyer. For many years he was the brilliant QC and then Supreme Court justice who somehow found time on the side to write a definitive, multivolume history of the Hundred Years War: a true Renaissance man" - Guardian

"Thoughtful, stimulating and even entertaining ... Lord Sumption's opinion is always worth listening to, even - or especially - if one disagrees with it." - Telegraph

"Praise for Trials of the State: Brisk, entertaining, brilliant ... one of the great lawyers of our time" - Sunday Times

"Magisterial" - The Times

"Elegant and crisply argued (Best Politics and Current Affairs Books of 2019)" - The Times

"The book is hard going, but rewarding. Sumption ... leads his readers persuasively to positions which, when they stop to think, they may not find comfortable" - The National (Scotland)

"Sumption examines the increasingly difficult relationship between government and the courts... a former Supreme Court judge,[he] seems rather gloomy about democracy's future, but has produced a very readable analysis (The best current affairs and politics books of 2019)" - Sunday Times