[OT] UK House of Lords Victory for Democracy
 

What a devastating judgement for the Government. This passage by Lord
Hoffman sums up the essence:

"I said that the power of detention is at present confined to
foreigners and I would not like to give the impression that all that
was necessary was to extend the power to United Kingdom citizens as
well. In my opinion, such a power in any form is not compatible with
our constitution. The real threat to the life of the nation, in the
sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and
political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as
these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is
for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a
victory."

And quoting Lord Devlin many years earlier:

"The first object of any tyrant in Whitehall would be to make
Parliament utterly subservient to his will; and the next to overthrow
or diminish trial by jury... [It] is more than an instrument of
justice and more than one wheel of the constitution: it is the lamp
that shows that freedom lives."

We now have a Parliament that does whatever the ruling political party
wants, and a Government planning to limit trial by jury...

In message ,
writes
What a devastating judgement for the Government. This passage by Lord
Hoffman sums up the essence:

"I said that the power of detention is at present confined to
foreigners and I would not like to give the impression that all that
was necessary was to extend the power to United Kingdom citizens as
well. In my opinion, such a power in any form is not compatible with
our constitution. The real threat to the life of the nation, in the
sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and
political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as
these. That is the true measure of what terrorism may achieve. It is
for Parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a
victory."

And quoting Lord Devlin many years earlier:

"The first object of any tyrant in Whitehall would be to make
Parliament utterly subservient to his will; and the next to overthrow
or diminish trial by jury... [It] is more than an instrument of
justice and more than one wheel of the constitution: it is the lamp
that shows that freedom lives."

We now have a Parliament that does whatever the ruling political party
wants, and a Government planning to limit trial by jury...

And to add Lord Denning:

"Be you never so high, the Law is above you".

Mike