Ancient & modern | 08 August 2009

Following the diktat of the European Court, Law Lords have ruled that ‘control orders’ are illegal, because they allow terrorist suspects to be placed under curfew without the evidence against them being made available to their lawyers.

Following the diktat of the European Court, Law Lords have ruled that ‘control orders’ are illegal, because they allow terrorist suspects to be placed under curfew without the evidence against them being made available to their lawyers. A Law Lord commented: ‘The government has a responsibility for the protection of the lives and wellbeing of those who live in this country… The duty of the courts, however, is not a duty to protect the lives of citizens. It is a duty to apply the law.’

Ancients would have been incredulous that a law could exist that threatened the lives of citizens; and if it did, they would have changed it. In 369 bc, the Theban general Epaminondas illegally extended his and his fellow-generals’ term of office in order to complete a successful attack on Thebes’ enemy Sparta. So when he returned home, it was to find himself on a capital charge, brought by political enemies. He demanded that, if executed, the following notice should be posted: ‘Epaminondas was executed by the Thebans because he forced them to defeat the Spartans whom they had never even dared to look in the face before, rescued Thebes and liberated all Greece’ (and much else). The jury fell about laughing and all charges were dropped.

Three hundred years later the great Roman advocate Cicero commented: ‘Our ancestors wrote laws whose sole aim was the stability and interests of the state. The state is best off when governed according to laws, but all laws should be interpreted in the light of that goal.