ABSTRACT
As we argued in Chapter 2, justice in a democracy has to be achieved in open court. The broader dimensions of this principle were articulated in a recent case: 1 ‘… the principle of open justice represents an element of democratic accountability, and the vigorous manifestation of the principle of freedom of expression.’ These values are certainly central to democracy, but, we have also argued that the principle of open justice is a critical principle; a principle that, as we will argue below, requires us to object to the ‘special regimes’ that are growing up around certain forms of evidence and lie behind the Justice and Security Bill. Our argument will take us back to issues of terrorism, and, indeed, to government complicity in torture. Arguments about open justice are thus at the cutting edge of the meaning of a fair trial in contemporary British law.
