Algemene kennis

Officiële naam: Bingham, Thomas Henry, Baron Bingham of Cornhill
Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten: Bingham, Tom
Geboortedatum: 1933-10-13
Overlijdensdatum: 2010-09-11
Geslacht: male
Nationaliteit: UK
Relaties: Keen, Maurice (friend)

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The Rule of Law door Penguin Adult HC/TR

In May 2015, the British PM David Cameron famously said

For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.

He followed this up with the admonition than the government must "bring the country together" by "actively promoting certain values. Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Democracy. The rule of law. Equal rights regardless of race, gender or sexuality." Note that nationality and religion are conspicuously absent from that list.

Alarming as the Cameron soundbite is, there is of course precedent from the other side of the pond. Bingham quotes David Cole from 2003:

With a stroke of the pen, in other words, President Bush denied foreign nationals basic rights of political association, political speech, due process, and privacy.

How does the removal of due process and the presumption of innocence for foreigners square with the Rule of Law?

Bingham struggles with that question after outlining the history of the Rule of Law and providing a modern definition for what we expect a country abiding by the Rule of Law to respect. It's clear that this definition is based on Western European values of tolerance and individual independence, which unfortunately are at odds with each other in any concentrated population.

And that is fine, Bingham seems to say, as long as the government abides by the laws and principles which it has set forth, no matter what the consequences.

One of the most dangerous temptations for a government facing violent threats is to respond in heavy-handed ways that violate the rights of innocent citizens. Terrorism is a criminal act and should be treated accordingly -- and that means applying the law fairly and consistently.

That was Madeleine Albright, also quoted by Bingham, from April 2000. Remember 2000? Before the US collectively crapped itself at the realization that not everybody liked them, and decided that because Americans were such swell people after all, everybody else must obviously be wrong, and therefore they deserve what they get.

And who could have forseen this reaction? It seems pretty obvious in retrospect:

After each perceived security crisis ended, the United States has remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary. But it has proven unable to prevent itself from repeating the error when the next crisis came along.

That was William Brennan, again quoted by Bingham, writing in 1987 and referring to such past embarrassments as the interment of Japanese-Americans and the McCarthy red scare.

But politicians are no students of history. No surprise there -- they can't handle basic maths either.

So while it's tempting to say that every elected and appointed official should read this book of Bingham's, it wouldn't make one bit of difference. A politician has the memory of a goldfish, and the attention span of a teenager.

Which means it is up to everyone else to read this excellent book, and to hold those self-aggrandizing bastards responsible for the wrongs they have wrought.… (meer)

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mkfs | 6 andere besprekingen | Aug 13, 2022 |

The rule of law door Tom Bingham

In this little book, evidently written to appeal to general readers as well as lawyers (another reviewer here puts it very well: "the most wonderfully simple, jargon-free, crystal-clear prose that could be understood by any smart twelve-year-old"), Bingham takes us through the history of the concept — from Magna Carta and habeas corpus to the international conventions of the 20th century — and why it is important, and then looks in a little more detail at the most important implications the rule of law has in practice, in the requirements it sets for the law to be clear and accessible, in the restrictions it puts on arbitrary acts by representatives of the state, in the requirement of fairness, transparency and impartiality in court procedure, in the necessity of a proper system of legal protection for human rights, and in international law.

He also looks at how the rule of law has repeatedly been threatened by governments over-reacting to perceived emergencies, in particular to the various excesses of the Bush and Blair governments in the response to 9/11 — where he has, rather grudgingly, to admit that the British were at least less evil than the Americans in their draconian curtailments of human rights. He doesn't say so, but of course we know that was partly due to the fact that Blair had a Lord Bingham breathing down his neck...

It's interesting to see that he anticipates disputes between government and judiciary over judicial review as a future point of contention in Britain, and he criticises the British public for its acquiescence in the rapid growth of the surveillance society. Had he had the chance to write a second edition, he'd have had quite a bit to add on both of those.

A very clear, concise, and penetrating account of what law is for and how it works in a modern society: obviously it should be required reading for anyone going into either politics or the legal profession. My only minor disappointment was that Bingham didn't think of ending the book by quoting the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe — "...and I, my lords, embody the law". If anyone was ever entitled to use that exit line, he was!… (meer)

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thorold | 6 andere besprekingen | Jun 2, 2021 |

The Rule of Law door Tom Bingham

Buen libro sobre el imperio del derecho (rule of law) la primera parte muy buena la segunda muy circunscripta a los problemas alrededor de la guerra contra el terrorismo y para los que estamos lejos de eso tal vez aburrida por lo detallista. Muy bueno el ultimo capítulo sobre la supremacía de la reina en el parlamento, y la explicación de porque no es posible la declaración de inconstitucionalidad en el sistema inglés

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gneoflavio | 6 andere besprekingen | Mar 2, 2021 |

The Rule of Law door Rt Hon Lord Bingham Of Cornhill Kg Pc Fba Tom Bingham

Very interesting and incredibly well written. Well worth owning and rereading.

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TheoSmit | 6 andere besprekingen | Oct 21, 2020 |

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