If you look in the 5th edition of Tony Weir’s Casebook on Tort 1 you will see what was then a recent decision of mine2 described as being of breathtaking superficiality. I shall come back to that case a little later. But in the meantime all I want to say is this, that when I compare what I am about to say with the very learned contributions that have come from my predecessors in this series of lectures, Professor Berlingieri on lien holders and mortgagees,3 Lord Justice Mustill on decision-making in maritime law4 and the others, I am persuaded that Mr Weir may be right. The superficiality of what I am about to say is indeed breathtaking. It is perhaps just as well that Mr Weir is not among us. I shall, however, just add this. That when looking for the 5th edition of his Casebook in the Inner Temple library, I found the first four editions in their place without difficulty; but the fifth edition, in which my decision is mentioned in such unflattering terms, has gone missing. It was nowhere to be found. I can assure you that there is no connection whatever between these disconnected facts.