Rule of Law

Lord Hacking Excerpts

Tuesday 26th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hacking (Lab)]

My Lords, with your Lordships’ leave, I would like to make a short intervention in the gap. I join all other Members of the House in congratulating our two maiden speakers on their excellent speeches—first, the noble Baroness, Lady Laing of Elderslie. As she told us, Elderslie was the birthplace of William Wallace. I mention not what happened to William Wallace when he came down to our realm. Secondly and most importantly, I congratulate my new noble and learned friend Lady Smith of Cluny. As a hereditary Peer, I am rather excited by her arrival, because my party is now being more respectful than it has hitherto been on hereditary Peers, with her joining her much-respected mother—the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Gilmorehill—in this House on these Benches.

Speaking in the gap gives the advantage of being able to listen to some excellent speeches. I will not outline those speeches, because noble Lords have heard them all, but the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, as usual made a very good speech. I did not agree with him about the International Criminal Court but, other than that, I agreed with everything he said. The noble Lord, Lord Thomas, made an absolutely splendid speech. I agreed with it and, if noble Lords were listening, they will have heard me saying “Hear, hear” quite strongly after he spoke. The noble Lord, Lord Faulks, gave another excellent speech, as did my noble friend Lord Bach. There were also others of high quality.

We have been discussing a difficult subject. Justice described the rule of law as,

“a phrase much used and little explained”.

We have assistance from Lord Bingham in his seminal work on the rule of law. Interestingly, he said:

“There is a significant disagreement initially on how to define the rule of law”,


and that:

“The rule of law has been referred to as a ‘wrapper’ that is placed around a bundle of constitutional principles”.


This leads us to the fourth century BC and not only to Aristotle but to Plato, as Aristotle was a student of Plato. These great Greek philosophers identified the rule of law as separate from the “rule of men”. That is a very interesting test to be applied if society has a different agenda from that of the men at law.

When my noble and learned friend the Attorney-General sums up, I urge him to stand stoically behind the European Court of Human Rights, notwithstanding the speech by the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, who was not exactly enthusiastic about it. I also ask my noble and learned friend to travel back with the noble Lords, Lord Wolfson and Lord Banner, and myself to the fourth century BC.