When I thought about what title to give to my lecture, I encountered the expression of somebody or something being ?at the coalface?: in connection with a person, that person finding him/herself doing the hardest part of a job1. A thing at the coalface: consider mining, but it doesn't have to be coal, it can be the search for anything we need. Turning to our world, that of the law, it will be the search for legal solutions acceptable as hard, mature, durable, binding; the ?coalface? thus being the place where legal ideas and theories are put to the test and the last word is spoken.