Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law holds workshop at All Souls College Oxford

The Bingham Centre held a Workshop on this subject at All Souls College, Oxford on 23 and 24 September, hosted by Sir Jeremy Lever KCMG QC. The purpose was to assist the Centre in defining the rule of law in a way that could assist its practical implementation worldwide.

The Workshop included invited delegates, including leading UK experts on the subject, and, from abroad, Judge Mattias Guyomar of the Conseil d'Etat; the Deputy Secretary of the Venice Commission (The Council of Europe's Commission for Democracy Through Law), Simona Granata -Menghini; Professor Philip Joseph of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; the German Judge on the European Court of Human Rights, Justice Angelika Nussberger; Dr Laurent Pech of the National University of Ireland Galway, and Professor Kaarlo Tuori of the University of Helsinki.

The Workshop began with a presentation by Professor Jeremy Waldron, suggesting that although contextualisation of the rule of law was possible and necessary, it was equally important to continue to explore the rule of law as an ideal. The recent document of the Venice Commission on the Rule of Law, which adopted Tom Bingham's definition, was discussed, as was his proposition that the rule of law includes an obligation upon states to comply with international law. The Workshop considered the differences between the rule of law and the notions of Rechtsstaat and Etat de Droit, and discussed papers on two subjects on which the Bingham Centre will be focussing: Security and Secrecy in Trials, and the use of Civil Penalties to Cheat the Criminal Law.

Bingham Centre holds a joint seminar with ALBA
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