One overall theme in the common law is the idea of fairness or due process. To understand that fairness in law, we've to understand how this concept has been defined in different times, in different places. One part of the concept of fairness is the argument that the judge must be unbiased and fair in the sense of being a neutral party in a dispute. Another aspect is that, if evidence exists against the party, that party should be given adequate facilities and time to consider that evidence. A further point is said of audi alteram partem, a Latin phrase which means that cause you to hit both sides of the case before making a judgement. It's interesting to note that the idea of due process or fairness in law does not have a fixed content, it changes over time. At different historical periods, there'll be different ways of thinking about due process. So, if we go back to Magna Carta in 1215, we can see that in Chapter 39 in Magna Carta, there are ideas linked to due process. To paraphrase, it states that people must not be arrested or imprisoned or have property taken away from them unless the proper procedures of the law are followed. Then, much later on, the concept of due process is mentioned in one of the important commentaries on the common law, Sir Edward Cooks Institutes of the Laws of England. This was published between 1628 and 1644. Therefore, it was written at a much later period, but the principle of due process is clearly still of significance in the common law. However, in these historical cases, is probable that due process will not be understood as we understand that term now. Previous conceptions of due process may also not apply to ordinary citizens as opposed to their ability. So, the concept of due process does change over time. If we think about modern ideas of due process, will lead them to events like the American and French Revolutions. Here again, these ideas are probably quite different from those of Sir Edward Cooke was thinking about in the 1620s, or which inspired Magna Carta earlier on. The idea of due process is therefore changing all the time, and then given a different context and a different meaning. It's interesting to see how many of you think that fairness is an important theme in the law. To this idea of fairness, we can add the modern understanding of human rights. The modern concept of which started in the wake of the Second World War, with the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If we read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we can see ideas of equality before the law they're arguably more modern. Once you talk about equality before the law in modern history or today, we mean something quite different from how people understood the term or talked about earlier on in legal history.