2. The Human Rights Act 1998: Overview

Author(s):  
Ruth Costigan ◽  
Richard Stone

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provide an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter provides an overview of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) and how it operates. It discusses the extent to which the Act fulfils the role of a ‘Bill of Rights’, as that concept is understood in other jurisdictions. A particular issue relevant to that discussion is that of ‘entrenchment’ and the extent to which the HRA 1998 can be said to have any special status different from other legislation. The supervision of the HRA 1998 is also considered.

Author(s):  
Mark Lunney ◽  
Donal Nolan ◽  
Ken Oliphant

This chapter introduces the tort of negligence. It first discusses the formulation of a general duty of care, highlighting the case of Donoghue v Stevenson, which established the pre-eminent role of the ‘duty of care’ concept in the tort of negligence. The chapter then turns to the role of the duty of care concept in modern negligence law, before considering the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the law of negligence.


Author(s):  
Helen Fenwick

This chapter considers proposals for changes that might be made by a British Bill of Rights, as compared with the Human Rights Act, under the Coalition government, or a future Conservative government. It considers views expressed by Conservative spokespersons prior to and after the 2010 general election, and answers given by members of the Bill of Rights Commission to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in 2011. This chapter also touches on the second aspect of the Commission's remit — its advisory role on reform of the European Court of Human Rights. It questions whether adopting a Bill of Rights on the lines favoured by the Conservative leadership, combined with the Strasbourg reforms recently determined on, would be likely to realise Conservative aims of creating divergence from Strasbourg and enhancing parliamentary autonomy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Andrew L-T Choo

Chapter 1 examines a number of basic concepts and distinctions in the law of evidence. It covers facts in issue and collateral facts; relevance, admissibility, and weight; direct evidence and circumstantial evidence; testimonial evidence and real evidence; the allocation of responsibility; exclusionary rules and exclusionary discretions; free(r) proof; issues in criminal evidence; civil evidence and criminal evidence; the implications of trial by jury; summary trials; law reform; and the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998. This chapter also presents an overview of the subsequent chapters.


Author(s):  
Ruth Costigan ◽  
Richard Stone

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provide an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter examines the issues arising from more extended detention, generally at a police station. It focuses on the grounds for such extended detention prior to charge, and the procedures which must be adopted in relation to it. It considers the rights of a citizen who is a ‘suspect’ but against whom the police do not have sufficient evidence to charge with an offence. Relevant provisions under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 are discussed.


Author(s):  
John Stanton ◽  
Craig Prescott

One of the most fundamental aspects of any constitution are the provisions and measures that protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. In the UK, rights protection is markedly different to that in America, in chief because there is no entrenched Bill of Rights. Rights protection is dominated by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998, which sets out a number of positive rights that are actionable in the UK courts This chapter discusses the ways in which these rights are protected in the UK Constitution. It discusses the courts' historic civil liberties approach and common law protection of rights, before then examining the development, incorporation, and application of the ECHR. The chapter also explores the way in which the various sections of the Human Rights Act 1998 work to ensure appropriate enforcement and protection of rights in UK law.


2019 ◽  
pp. 10-36
Author(s):  
Maureen Spencer ◽  
John Spencer

This chapter focuses on the burden of proof and presumption of innocence in criminal and civil cases under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It considers the influence of the UK’s Human Rights Act 1998 on the allocation of the burden of proof and compares legal/persuasive burden of proof with the evidential burden. It contains a detailed examination of the case law under this Act and the criteria developed to assess where reverse burdens should apply. It draws on academic commentary in making this analysis. It also looks at situations where the legal and the evidential burden may be split. It concludes with an overview of the law on presumptions.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Maureen Spencer ◽  
John Spencer

This chapter introduces the principles and key concepts underlying the law of evidence, with an emphasis on criminal evidence. It reviews Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), now part of English law as a result of the Human Rights Act 1998. It concludes by highlighting the importance of analysis of the relevance of the facts in a trial.


Tort Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 446-481
Author(s):  
Kirsty Horsey ◽  
Erika Rackley

This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.


Evidence ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew L-T Choo

Chapter 1 examines a number of basic concepts and distinctions in the law of evidence. It covers facts in issue and collateral facts; relevance, admissibility, and weight; direct evidence and circumstantial evidence; testimonial evidence and real evidence; the allocation of responsibility; exclusionary rules and exclusionary discretions; free(r) proof; issues in criminal evidence; civil evidence and criminal evidence; the implications of trial by jury; summary trials; law reform; and the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998. This chapter also presents an overview of the subsequent chapters.


Author(s):  
Judith-Anne MacKenzie

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provide an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter explains some provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), both of which are relevant to the study of land law. The significance of the HRA 1998 in land law cases is also discussed.


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