ABSTRACT
This chapter examines national security and the limits of judicial protection in the United Kingdom (UK). It illustrates Stephen Sedley's concerns that 'National security furnishes a series of critical instances of the difficulty of reconciling the modern state with the rule of law'. The chapter explores the effects of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The operation of the ECHR by virtue of the Human Rights Act (HRA) and subject to the interpretations of domestic judges has been an enormously rich period in domestic legal development. The absence of a 'sovereign immunity' since 1947 has meant that English courts have witnessed an increasing number of civil actions brought by individuals caught up in anti-terrorist activity. Britain is not alone in judicial recognition of the respect due for policy decisions. The realm of policy is not inviolable to judicial challenge as the case law exemplifies but respect is shown to executive expertise, experience, knowledge and the safeguards of democratic accountability.
