Judicial Independence: we must stand firm, states law lord

The senior law lord last week warned the government against undermining judicial independence and affirmed that in protecting human rights and upholding the rule of law, judges would not be bullied by 'prime ministerial or ministerial diktat.'


In a keynote address to the Commonwealth Law Conference, Lord Bingham of Cornhill criticised politicians who pay lip service to the principle of judicial independence, but are slow to accept the reality of it.


He warned that if the government sought to tell judges what to do, they would be bound to take no notice.


Lord Bingham called the suggestion, from the media and ministers, that judges sought to impede or frustrate the conduct of government 'a complete misunderstanding.'


He said where governments lose important cases, it had nothing to do with judges' personal views or agenda, but was 'simply because the conduct of the government is contrary to the law, which the judge is charged with upholding'.


He added: 'It should not be a surprise that the decisions of the courts vindicating and upholding [the protection of human rights] provoke howls of criticism from politicians and the mass media, who generally reflect the majority opinions.'


Lord Bingham said such rights, which were naturally counter-egalitarian, were there to protect minority groups, which had little opportunity, other than by violence or terrorism, to oppress the majority.


In her keynote address, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC agreed, saying: 'The international community is now at a crossroads where either we take the opportunity to restate loudly the imperatives of a world based on law, consent and collective responses to threat, or we retreat from principle.'


Criticising the government's response to the threat posed by terrorism, she said: 'What we are seeing is a creeping erosion of liberty and a lowering of standards of proof. The question we have to ask is how far does one go in the surrender of liberty for security.


At what point do you destroy the very democracy you are trying to protect?'