British Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith came to UNM to lecture on international terrorism and the rule of law.
"The rule of law is the basis of a free society," Goldsmith said. "That no one person is above the law - that it is based on the authority of the people."
He was the first person to speak in a lecture series about international justice Thursday at the law school.
Goldsmith was appointed as attorney general by the queen of England and is the chief legal adviser to the British government.
He said there are three phases to the newest chapter of terrorism in the post-Sept. 11 world.
First is the willingness of the terrorists to inflict enormous casualties on a large scale, such as the World Trade Center attacks, he said.
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"It is not so much the state of the tragedy as it is the willingness to inflict loss without blinking," he said.
Goldsmith quoted Prime Minister Tony Blair, who stated the real issue was that the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 were a declaration of war by religious fanatics who would have rejoiced regardless of the number of people killed.
The second phase in modern-day terrorism, he said, is the enormous scale on which it is practiced. International terror is highly organized and executed through global networks of cells, he said, which makes it difficult to enforce the law.
He said the third phase, globalized terrorism, focuses on how advanced technology has become.
"No longer do you need a conspiracy in which someone plots in a darkened cellar where undercover intelligence might overhear what they're doing or saying," he said.
Goldsmith said Britain tries to stay true to the rule of law by taking action with necessary force to counter the intelligence of terrorist organizations.
Following Goldsmith's lecture, judges James Parker, Harris Hartz and Pamela Mizner sat as panelists to discuss issues brought up by the lecture and add their own thoughts on terrorism.
Hartz posed the question of how terrorism, a terrorist or an act of terror is defined.
"Most of the international legislation that defines terrorism criminalizes those who are simply freedom fighters," Hartz said.
