Defending liberty
A few days ago, the New York Times ran an interesting article about the Tories’ opposition to extending pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects beyond 28 days. This proposal has provoked claims from the civil liberties lobby that it betrays the principle laid down in Magna Carta that no-one can be imprisoned without a fair trial. So I was particularly interested to read, in the NYT story, the words of Magna Carta:
No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we pursue him or send after him, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.Note that no-one shall be imprisoned except by jury trial or ‘by the law of the land’. It is clear that the protection being offered here to individuals was against the arbitrary use of power by the King. The protection against such an arbitrary use of power was to be found both in trial by jury and in the law of the land. The law was itself a protection against such power. So it would seem to follow that if Parliament passes a law enabling the pre-charge detention of suspects, that is itself a protection against arbitrary power by the government, the modern equivalent of the medieval King. Far from betraying Magna Carta, therefore, extending pre-charge detention would seem to be expressly permitted by it.
They weren't fools in the 13th century.