Presenter: Dan Brennan, Chairman, the Bar Council of England and Wales - Serving justice - the work of a lawyer. - Christian influences on individual lawyers and the legal system. - Church and law in history: the Ten Commandments - opening the legal year - swearing oaths in court. - Christianity and the spirit of the law. - Valuing and respecting one another.
	Download all the documents for this section in Acrobat PDF format. This document includes the transcript of the video, the activities and the collective worship.
	My name is Dan Brennan. I've worked in the legal profession for over thirty years, specializing in disaster cases, whether they be medical negligence or personal injury. I'm currently Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, which means that I represent all barristers. A barrister's work is to advise people and to represent them in court. In other words, to serve justice. For me and for many barristers, what we do is based upon our Christian beliefs. But those principles don't just influence individuals: Christian beliefs and traditions are at the very heart of our legal system. In the past, it was a connection that would have been very clear. Indeed there was a reminder every time you went to church. You see, in the late sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth the First decreed that every church should display these: the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and, above all, the ancient Jewish laws we know as the Ten Commandments. Here in Lidbury, northern Shropshire, is one of the best surviving examples from that time. This one dates from 1615. Texts like these, put up in almost every church in the country, would have been a clear reminder to everyone of their duty both to God and to their fellow man - duties such as a respect for property, for life, for the sanctity of marriage and for truth. Today there are still links between the law and Christianity that everyone can see. Every October, the legal year opens with a service in Westminster Abbey and every day in court witnesses swear on the Bible to tell the truth. But the influence of Christianity on the law today goes much deeper than that. The spirit, rather than the letter, of the Ten Commandments, still gives us a profound respect for both the rights of the individual and for the sanctity of human life. It's taught us the value of each other, respect for each other, as Jesus said, "To love our neighbour as ourselves". With these principles in mind, over time, we have progressed to our present system, where fairness and justice are at the heart of it. I believe in these principles. They have stood the test of centuries. I am convinced that they will prevail. Of course, we must change the way the law works wherever justice requires it, but Christianity and the diversity of religions we now have in this country, will continue to be the bedrock on which justice truly depends.