What does the right to a fair trial entail and where do the presumption of innocence, the right to silence and the privilege against self-incrimination fi t in? Lord Diplock answered the fi rst part of this question in his now famous dictum , “[t]he fundamental human right is not to a legal system that is infallible, but to one that is fair.” 1 Fairness in a trial boils down to the question whether the accused has had a fair chance of dealing with the allegations against him. 2 Judge Patrick Robinson, President of the United Nations International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, describes the right to a fair trial as an ancient right whose roots can be traced all the way back to the Lex Duodecim Tabularum —the Law of the Twelve Tables-which, as he points out, “was the fi rst written code in the Roman Republic.” 3 The principles of law codifi ed in the Law of the Twelve Tables-the right to have all parties present at a hearing, the equality of all before the law, and the impartiality of the courts-are echoed in modern jurisprudence as essential elements to the conduct of a fair trial. 4 The scope of the right to a fair trial has been the subject of sustained and progressive development from the Magna Carta and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man to the constitution of the fi rst “new nation.” 5 Its content has also been shaped by the doctrines and institutions established during the Age of Enlightenment as well as in the numerous postSecond World War international and regional human rights treaties such as the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 6

The right to a fair trial is a cluster of rights which are usually classifi ed into three categories. 7 The fi rst category consists of the basic rules of a fair trial such as the right to be equal before the courts, the right to a fair public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law, and the right to be presumed innocent. The second category includes the minimum guarantees of a fair trial which would include inter alia the right to be informed of the charge, the right to prepare a defense and to communicate

with counsel, and the privilege against self-incrimination. Finally, the right to a fair trial also includes the right to appeal, to compensation for wrongful conviction and the principle of ne bis in idem .