The court and the world, delivered by The Honorable Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Annual Lecture LII

This lecture, entitled "The Court and the World," explored the inescapable reality of globalisation and its profound impact on the judiciary, arguing that courts worldwide must look beyond their national borders to resolve modern legal challenges and uphold core constitutional values. The speaker noted a dramatic increase in cases before the United States Supreme Court—from a negligible number to an estimated fifteen to twenty per cent—that require knowledge of foreign law or international practices. The address detailed this necessity through concrete examples in three main areas: security and civil liberties, commerce, and human rights. Regarding security, historical precedents and modern cases concerning executive power and individual freedom, such as the Guantanamo Bay detentions, were used to illustrate the delicate, often criticised, involvement of judges, whose review ensures the executive is not given a "blank cheque". In the commercial sphere, complex international cases involving antitrust, securities fraud, and copyright were presented, demonstrating how judges rely on briefs from numerous countries to work towards "comity"—a harmonious resolution between different national systems. Finally, the discussion on human rights, specifically cases brought under an old statute against modern torturers and the problem of interpreting international treaties on child abduction, underscored the difficulty and necessity of a cooperative, international effort to solve problems brought by the nature of the modern world. Ultimately, the lecture stressed that the alternative to this cooperative approach under the rule of law is dangerous, requiring all nations to work together to preserve their values and manage global issues.