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The first option of Law Guardian book club is likely to define "law" for a century. But the conference was based on that passed almost unnoticed

In November 2006, Lord Bingham delivered a formal document called the rule of law. Unfortunately for the law then lord high ", the legal partner of major newspapers ignored the conference." Fortunately, however, in a column written a week after The Guardian, Martin Kettle recognized its importance.

Kettle article attracted the attention of Penguin Books. It was they who persuaded Bingham to expand its exposure in the small volume which I have the quote in the previous paragraph. Bingham gave his manuscript, as promised and it was difficult to understand why publishers have waited a year before doing so. They, in turn, were clearly not familiar with the authors met deadlines.

being convicted of being one of the legal correspondents who came to the conclusion that the conference would never be news pages Bingham. Unfortunately, the highest judge of his generation is no longer able to hear my call for mitigation - is that, as a strong advocate of Bingham was, he did his thesis seems so sensible, so obvious that no would have thought there was something new that.

Far from it. Bingham spoke up, "the law" means more or less what Dicey said he meant in 1885. Definition of the term now used Bingham is totally authoritarian and probably will remain so for the next 120 years or more. In short, it is "all persons and state authorities, whether public or private, should be subject to the law and benefit the public laws (in general) in the future administration and the public in the courts. "

There is a lot packed into that sentence and worth reading until you understand what that means. The conference and more broadly in the book, Bingham expands its definition into eight sub-rules or principles.

First, he says, "the law must be accessible and, if possible, intelligible, clear and predictable." As he explains, is a restriction on judicial activism. "One thing is to get around the law a little further along a line that is already in motion, or to adapt according to modern ideas and practices, but quite another to try to recast the law of a radical innovation or adventure. "

The second principle is that "questions of law and the responsibility should normally be solved by applying the law and not the exercise of discretion." This does not mean that judges are automatons who lack the capacity to make decisions in individual cases. However, no discretion under the Act shall not be exercised arbitrarily.

Third, "the laws of the land should apply equally to all, except to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation." Equality before the law is rightly regarded as the stone cornerstone of the constitution, but did not prevent the last Labour government in 2001 legislation under which terrorist suspects can be detained indefinitely were foreigners.

The fourth principle Bingham was promoted to sixth in the conference. Is that "ministers and officials at all levels must exercise the powers conferred on them in good faith with the law, so that the powers were conferred, without exceeding the limits of those powers, not no reason. "This is a fundamental law and longstanding public the basis of judicial review.

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