Harvey McGregor’s legacy will be the legal tome on which any serious lawyer must rely when preparing a case involving damages. Regularly republished, McGregor on Damages became a bible in its field and was never more timely. “The idea of damages depends on a litigating society,” said McGregor. “We are following America . . . suing more than we used to.”
When, last year, the 19th edition went on sale, priced at £536 a copy, it sold 100 copies on the first day, going on to reach thousands across the world, in printed form and online. McGregor insisted on faultless accuracy; his publishers offered him £50,000 to advance the date for the 20th edition, but he refused, on the grounds that he believed it might