The Rule of Law

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THE RULE OF LAW

Lord Bingham

The Cambridge Law Journal / Volume 66 / Issue 01 / March 2007, pp 67 ­ 85

DOI: 10.1017/S0008197307000037, Published online: 13 April 2007

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0008197307000037

How to cite this article:

Lord Bingham (2007). THE RULE OF LAW. The Cambridge Law Journal, 66, pp 67­85 

doi:10.1017/S0008197307000037

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Cambridge Law Journal, 66(1), March 2007, pp. 67–85

Printed in Great Britain

ARTICLES

THE RULE OF LAW

LORD BINGHAM*

IT is an immense honour and privilege to give the Sixth Sir David

Williams Lecture. It is also a formidable challenge, since Sir David’s

scholarly reputation is so high as to discourage comparison. But the

great range of his achievement – as legal scholar, university leader,

head of house, public servant and loyal son of Wales – gives the

lecturer a broad range of subject matter from which to choose, without

straying into fields Sir David has not adorned. In choosing to address

the Rule of Law – a big subject for a lecture – my best hope must be

that Sir David will himself be provoked into giving us, at greater

length, his considered reflections on the subject.

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 provides, in section 1, that the

Act does not adversely affect ‘‘the existing constitutional principle of

the rule of law’’ or ‘‘the Lord Chancellor’s existing constitutional role

in relation to that principle’’. This provision, the Attorney-General has

suggested,1 illustrates the importance attached to the rule of law in the

modern age,2 which is further reflected in the oath to be taken by...