It feels almost unfair to compare the Presumption of Death Act 2013 unfavourably with poetry that has survived the test of time for almost 400 years.
In his six-page judgment in Kerry Tolley v No Defendant, His Honour Paul Matthews, sitting as a judge of the High Court, quotes John Donne’s lines: ‘Any man’s death diminishes me … and never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.’
In deciding if the claimant had ‘sufficient interest’ in the determination of an application under the 2013 act, Matthews turned to the poet and created a wonderfully extravagant – Obiter means that as a compliment – connection between poetry concerned with common humanity and the law.
The 2013 act is ‘less extravagant in its reach’ than are Donne’s words, he said. ‘It does not confer rights on all of mankind to raise the question of the possible death of a missing person. Instead it restricts those rights to certain applicants only.’
And when it comes to historical quotes, Matthews does not stop at Donne. In his short but succinct judgment making the order sought, Matthews reaches even further back into English history to quote King William I from 1067.
Within 23 paragraphs, Matthews has Obiter reaching for our old textbooks and considering that, yes, letters mingle souls, but maybe judgments could too?
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