Counsel Magazine

Lord Neuberger delivered a powerful endorsement of the value of the rule of law in diffi - cult times, in this year’s Atkin lecture. Choosing the subject of the equity of human rights, Lord Neuberger recalled Lord Atkin’s dissenting judgment in Liversidge v Anderson (1940), in which he questioned the discretionary powers of the security services to detain Robert Liversidge in Brixton prison for alleged “hostile associations”. This judgment had relevance for legislation brought in to assist the government’s current “war on terror”.