The Lockerbie Trial and the Rule of Law

This is the title of an article written by Professor Hans Koechler for the National Law School of India Review, vol 19 (2009). The final section of Dr Koechler's article reads as follows:

'After an involvement of over more than 15 years in the observation and analysis of the legal and political disputes between the United Kingdom, the United States and the Libyan Jamahiriya – essentially over an issue of criminal jurisdiction in a suspected case of international terrorism –, the author has summarized his conclusions in remarks at the Law Awards of Scotland 2008:

'“Whether those in public office like it or not, the Lockerbie trial has become a test case for the criminal justice system of Scotland. At the same time, it has become an exemplary case on a global scale − its handling will demonstrate whether a domestic system of criminal justice can resist the dictates of international power politics or simply becomes dysfunctional as soon as "supreme state interests" interfere with the imperatives of justice. Fairness of judicial proceedings is undoubtedly a supreme and permanent public interest. If the rule of law is to be upheld, the requirements of the administration of justice may have to take precedence over public interests of a secondary order − such as a state's momentary foreign policy considerations or commercial and trade interests. The internal stability and international legitimacy of a polity in the long term depend on whether it is able to ensure the supremacy of the law over considerations of power and convenience. Contrary to what skeptics and the advocates of the supremacy of realpolitik try to make us believe, the basic maxim of the rule of law is not fiat justitia, pereat mundus but fiat justitia ne pereat mundus – let justice prevail so that the world does not perish.”'

The full text of the article can be read here.