The University of Cambridge has won the OUP and BPP National Mooting Competition 2007/2008. The two winning mooters, Heather Emmerson and Michael Lee, received a certificate, trophy, £750 each and a chance to gain experience with BPP Law School’s Pro Bono Centre.
Runners up, Nicholas Howe and Lauren Sales, representing the University of Reading each received £350 and a certificate.
The final, held at BPP Law School, Holborn, on the evening of Monday 30 June saw City University pitted against Birmingham City University and the University of Cambridge against the University of Reading. His Honour Judge Gratwicke, of Chelmsford Crown Court oversaw proceedings and chose the overall winner and runner up from the two moots.
In his summing up, Judge Gratwicke expressed how astounded he was by the standards before him: “Every year I am staggered by the standard of mooting this competition generates. Mooting is not something that one can do at the drop of a hat. You have to spend time preparing your submissions, carrying out your research, practising your persuasiveness and being prepared to respond to a judge intervention, whatever that intervention may present. I am sure that all eight finalists will have a successful career in law ”.
Heather Emmerson, University of Cambridge said: “The OUP/BPP National Mooting Competition has been an incredible journey. Over the past six months we have had the fantastic opportunity of preparing five challenging moots and taken on excellent opposition. This contest has both honed my mooting skills and fuelled by enthusiasm for advocacy. I was delighted to see our hard work and improved skills pay off in the Final”.
To see the rules of the competition click here.
The moot problem for the final round was devised for the competition by Gary Watt. (not to be reproduced without prior permission of OUP)
In the Court of Appeal
The New Church of Shakespeare v. The Charity Commission for England and Wales
The New Church of Shakespeare was established in 1964, on the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, with the object of worshipping the man they call “The Bard” and promulgating his works. Adherents refer to themselves as “Bardolators”, which is the term used mockingly by George Bernard Shaw to refer to excessive adulation of William Shakespeare. They consider Samuel Johnson, who described Shakespeare’s work as “a map of life”, to have been, before establishment, the first High Priest of their order. The New Church considers Stratford-upon-Avon to be a Holy Site and every member must visit The Bard’s tomb on the anniversary of The Bard’s death. The theatres of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and the Globe Theatre in London are considered to be the principal Cathedrals of the New Church and the Bard’s plays and sonnets are considered to be Holy Scripture. Original copies of the First Folio Edition of his works are treated with such reverence that a Bardolator may not touch a copy with an un-gloved hand (all priests of the New Church wear ornate gloves in honour of Shakespeare’s father, who was a glover).
Early in 2008, “The New Church of Shakespeare” applied to be registered with charitable status under the The Charities Act 2006, claiming to be established for the charitable purposes of education and the advancement of religion. The Charity Commission for England and Wales rejected the application on two grounds. The first ground of refusal was that The New Church of Shakespeare is not established for educational purposes, because education must always add to the store of human knowledge and does not include mere non-critical appreciation of the existing store of human knowledge. The second ground of refusal was that The New Church of Shakespeare is not established for the charitable purpose of advancing religion, because religion necessarily entails worship of a deity or non-human spiritual entity.
The New Church of Shakespeare appealed to the High Court, which confirmed the decision of the Charity Commission. The New Church of Shakespeare now appeals to the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision of the High Court on the following grounds.
First, that the purposes of The New Church of Shakespeare are educational because they tend to cultivate artistic taste and “the education of artistic taste is one of the most important things in the development of a civilized human being” (Royal Choral Society v Inland Revenue Comrs [1943] 2 All ER 101).
Second, that The New Church of Shakespeare is established for the advancement of religion, because religion need not entail worship of a deity or non-human spiritual entity, provided it entails faith in a being who may be considered on some basis “supreme”, combined with an expression of faith in that supreme being through worship.
— ends —
© Gary Watt 2008 (moot problems may be copied for use in the OUP/ BPP competition only)
