Sleepy dogs are not supposed to bite, but last week the unelected House of Lords displayed a few unexpected fangs. The peers voted overwhelmingly to block a war-crimes bill. The legislation, which would have permitted the prosecution of alleged Nazi war criminals living in Britain, had easily won approval in the House of Commons last March.
The peers were divided over whether such trials would constitute justice or revenge. Lord Shawcross, the chief British prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, argued that the bill would be "an indelible blot on every principle of British law and justice." But its supporters deemed enactment...
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