Horizon scanning for human rights: Accounting for Accountability

Address by the Rt Hon Lord Justice Green, Chairman, Law Commission of England & Wales

1. My subject matter is “accountability”. When I first selected this topic, I had no inkling that, in short order, it would become the hottest topic in town as Parliament and the Executive slogged it out in Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster and in the courts and would embroil the Crown and the Privy Council in disputes about the power to hold the Executive to account.
2. Whilst I will touch upon some of the issues arising in this litigation my focus is different. I wish to consider accountability as a forensic optic through which we should view human rights and the function of the courts as guardians of such rights.
3. My focus is therefore on accountability as between individuals and the state, and not between organs of the state inter se. And, more specifically, my focus is on how the courts will ensure accountability in the future in a world increasingly dominated by technology.

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