Rock the quote: the lucidity and erudition of lawyers from both sides of the pond at last week's American Bar Association International conference in London dealt a death blow to the tired adage about two nations divided by a common language.


Justice Randy J Holland from Delaware, responding to Lord Chief Justice Phillips' keynote address on the impact of terrorism on the rule of law, was moved to quote the Bard of Avon. His chosen, familiar passage was taken from King Henry VI part two, when Dick the Butcher - a member of Jack Cade's rebellious mob - cried: 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.'



The common reaction away from legal gatherings, of course, is that this would represent a good start, but Justice Holland - clearly understanding Shakespeare's true intention behind the line - observed that murdering the lawyers would have had the desired effect of murdering the rule of law.



Justice Donald W Lemons of Virginia was similarly eloquent in defence of the rule of law, describing it as a reflection of our shared history and warning the two nations to be 'vigilant not to sacrifice the very thing we seek to protect'.



The Master of the Rolls was not to be outdone. Sir Anthony Clarke alluded to the 18th century philosopher John Locke, paraphrasing his 'wherever law ends, tyranny begins', before moving seamlessly on to the words of the 17th century poet and Dean of St Pauls, John Donne: 'We are not islands unto ourselves.' He finished with the classics: Justinian's 'justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due'.



It was left to the irrepressible and altitudinally challenged Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC to haul us all back to earth with: 'I have been asked to be brief and short - and have no difficulty with the latter.'