Back to the Classics #3

I read this book for the 2019 Back to the Classics Reading Challenge

Classic Comic Novel. I was going to read a Peter DeVries novel for this category but found it so outdated that I had to put it down. Strange because outdated usually never puts me off. But casual asides about domestic abuse, yuck.

Independent Witness - Henry Cecil

The English judge Henry Cecil (1902 - 1976) wrote comic legal fiction. Think of John Mortimer’s Rumpole stories, though more gentle and less acerbic, just as clever, funny, and enjoyable. Cecil’s bag of tricks will call to mind P.G. Wodehouse in that Cecil uses stock characters like the dumb colonel, the obsessed widow, the silly young person, etc. But, to my mind, Cecil writes breezy profound stories set in a recognizable world whereas Wodehouse writes silly tales set in Neverneverland.

This novel from 1963 describes a hit and run case in which a member of Parliament is accused of not only hitting a motorcyclist but fleeing the scene. Cecil has a variety of characters take the stand. The dialogue-driven examinations should be read slowly and savored. While this is not a typical whodunit, I still recommend it to mystery fans since there is a traditional reveal. Cecil’s humor is very English, wise, and humane.

Henry James said that Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs had a “hard lucidity.” Cecil’s lucidity is light, with plain prose, dazzling dialogue, and difficult legal points explained gracefully and comprehensibly. Cecil was a barrister and high court judge himself so his views on evidence, judges, juries, lawyers, and clients are worth listening to.

Reading Henry Cecil’s books confirms my belief that the basic vices (the injustice of snobbery, the gluttony of avarice and lust, mean inquisitiveness, etc.) and virtues (self-control, fairness) of human beings haven’t changed and probably won’t change down through the ages. His legal fiction from the Fifites and Sixties is still in print, because his wit, style, intelligence, and deft plotting still provide much interest and sheer reading pleasure.