John Cyril Smith (1922–2003), a Fellow of the British Academy, was Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Nottingham where he headed the Law Department for three decades. In 1952–1953, Smith was awarded a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship at Harvard University and became impressed by the casebook method of teaching. The only subject he had taught every year throughout his career was evidence. His deep understanding of the law was apparent in his case commentaries on the subject for the Criminal Law Review, although by the mid-1980s he was handing over many evidence cases to his colleague and former student Diane Birch for commentary. He was a strong advocate of the presumption of innocence, in the form of the principle. It is chiefly for his work on the substantive criminal law that Smith will be long remembered. In addition to his three decades as Head of the Law Department at the University of Nottingham, and all his academic writings, Smith gave considerable time to official committees and other public service work.
The Teaching of International Law in the Law Faculty of the University of Angola (February 1982)