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It's disappointing yet again that the Brexit matter generates so much heat but so little light. UK judges have often sought guidance or inspiration in decisions of courts in other jurisdictions, often (but not always) common law jurisdictions, when there was a lacuna in English jurisprudence. I read Mr Forrester's comments as a statement of the obvious in that respect. He notes (correctly) that if after leaving the EU we retain the same standards in various areas (he specifically mentions equal pay and competition law), it would be natural and normal for UK judges, applying English law, to have regard to how similar questions are dealt with in other jurisdictions which (formerly) shared the same law. Perhaps in many cases there will be no need to do so; but with EU law having been a major source of inspiration (to put it no higher) in some areas of law (like employment and competition law), it would be odd to ignore it altogether.

Over time, as purely English (and Welsh and Scots) jurisprudence deals with legal issues a purely domestic body of jurisprudence will develop, and EU law may cease to assist at all. However US cases are still cited from time to time, even though US law diverged from English law over 200 years ago.

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