In an interview on Privacy

The Rule of Law.

What’s interesting about The Rule of Law is that it’s written by someone who was until very recently the UK’s most senior judge, Lord Bingham. It’s comforting because it shows that the highest level of the judiciary is really interested in the liberty of the individual and freedom in all its various guises. It’s also got all sorts of fascinating little pieces in it. For example, he criticises the way in which the Americans put certain prisoners outside the reach of their courts in Guantanamo Bay and mentions that the executive in England was doing exactly the same thing, putting prisoners beyond the reach of the courts, more than 300 years ago. But then there was an act of parliament to stop it, the Habeus Corpus Amendment Act of 1689. The book is a general look at aspects of the law which effectively guarantee the freedom of the individual. The rule of law is one of the two great pillars of democracy, the other, obviously, being the vote. But it’s probably more important than the vote, because the vote is only once in a while, but the rule of law determines the rules which everyone, including the authorities, must follow on a daily basis and is the greatest guarantee of freedom. So, it’s a very important book

Why were people being put outside the jurisdiction of the courts 300 years ago in England?

That was the Earl of Clarendon, King Charles II’s chief minister, so he could lock up people he didn’t approve of, without them or their friends being able to use Habeas Corpus to force the government to explain why they were being held. Of course, this is an exact parallel with what has been done in the United States more than 300 years later

And why did Tom Bingham feel he had to write this book?

Probably because he thinks the rule of law so important. Serious lawyers see continual attempts by the executive to encroach on the rule of law. If you’re a minister it’s much easier to do things without being constantly challenged in the courts.

In an interview on Human Rights

Your next book?

Tom Bingham’s The Rule of Law. A new book from probably the greatest jurist of our times, probably anywhere in the world. Recently retired, he was the senior law lord for the War on Terror and therefore heavily responsible for some very important decisions from the House of Lords Judicial Committee: against torture, against detention without trial, and so on. What’s wonderful about this book is that it’s not a law book; it’s for everybody. He’s attempting to explain, clearly, simply, powerfully, to a lay audience what the rule of law means and how important it is to everybody in modern society. Everyone should read this book, because it’s about our society. It’s about democracy, and how democracy isn’t just about having elections every few years, and it’s about our fundamental rights and freedoms that keep democracy alive, and how you do need firm independent judges to police the rules of the game. He’s not polemical, and he’s not preachy: he just reminds us of what we have and why we have it, and why it’s important. You do have to have rights and freedoms, you do have to have independent judges, and the law does have to have some moral content to it. It’s not long, it’s not complicated: it’s a really useful reminder of things that were taken for granted.