English jurist James Richard Atkin (b. 1867) is best known for his foundation of the modern law of negligence, and his dissent in a wartime detention case. London lawyer Lewis examines his career not chronologically but by the principal themes of his decisions. He emphasizes his home life and up-bringing in the Welsh countryside the traces his values primarily to a liberal spirit. The legal biography was first published in 1983 by Butterworths; a second preface has been added.