The Sir David Williams Lecture is an annual address delivered by a guest lecturer in honour of Sir David Williams, Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of English Law and Emeritus Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. The lecture series is hosted by the Centre for Public Law (CPL). The Cambridge Faculty of Law has a long tradition of outstanding scholarship in Constitutional and Administrative Law as can be seen from the contributions of E.C.S. Wade, Stanley de Smith and Sir William Wade. Today a significant number of Faculty members continue to have research interests in these fields and in the area of regulation and regulatory systems. The main aim of the CPL is to promote research in the area of public law, and to develop into a research centre of national and international reputation. For more information about the David Williams Lectures, and the CPL, please see the CPL website at http://www.cpl.law.cam.ac.uk/