16. Human rights in the UK: public order and police powers

Public Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 671-718
Author(s):  
John Stanton ◽  
Craig Prescott

This chapter examines the rights contained within Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression), Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly), Article 5 (the right to liberty), and Article 8 (the right to a private and family life). It considers the domestic application of these rights as well as the various cases in which they have been raised. In doing this, the chapter explores the balance that must be struck between certain rights on the one hand and competing interests and needs on the other. With this in mind, it focuses on two areas: first, the freedoms of association and assembly, balanced against the need to ensure public order; and secondly, the freedom of liberty and right to a fair trial, against the need to ensure that the police can carry out their functions and responsibilities appropriately.

Public Law ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Stanton ◽  
Craig Prescott

This chapter examines the rights contained within Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression), Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly), Article 5 (the right to liberty), and Article 8 (the right to a private and family life). It considers the domestic application of these rights as well as the various cases in which they have been raised. In doing this, the chapter explores the balance that must be struck between certain rights on the one hand and competing interests and needs on the other. With this in mind, it focuses on two areas: first, the freedoms of association and assembly, balanced against the need to ensure public order; and secondly, the freedom of liberty and right to a fair trial, against the need to ensure that the police can carry out their functions and responsibilities appropriately.


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. Textbook on Civil Liberties and Human Rights provides an account of this area of law. This work covers all the main topics in the field of civil liberties and human rights. It provides coverage of crucial areas such as police powers, freedom of expression, terrorism, and public order. A thematic approach helps readers to appreciate the overlap and interconnected nature of the subject, and the close association between the different articles of the European Convention. Topics new to this edition include: Austin v UK on kettling and the deprivation of liberty; von Hannover v Germany (No 2) and Springer v Germany on privacy; Othman (Abu Qatada) v UK on asylum and fair trial rights; O’Donoghue and Others v UK on the right to marry; the Supreme Court’s views in R v Gul on the definition of terrorism; the Court of Appeal’s rulings in Hall v Bull and Black v Wilkinson on discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation where this conflicts with religious beliefs; Att Gen v Davey on contempt and the internet; and the Anti-Social Behaviour and Policing Act, which will replace ASBOs with Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Disorder.


Author(s):  
Bernadette Rainey

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on freedom of religion and freedom of expression, which are classified as qualified rights, and examines Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which explains the right to hold or not hold a belief as well as the right to manifest a belief. It also considers how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decides if there has been manifestation of belief, interpretation of Article 10 with respect to views that shock and disturb and some forms of hate speech, and state restriction of expression. The chapter concludes with a discussion of freedom of religion and expression in the UK.


Author(s):  
Richard Clements

The Q&A series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each chapter includes typical questions, diagram problem and essay answer plans, suggested answers, notes of caution, tips on obtaining extra marks, the key debates on each topic, and suggestions on further reading. This chapter is all about the freedom to protest and police powers. Freedom to protest is protected by common law, statute, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The questions looked at here consider issues such as public order law; the right to protest; the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; and police powers to arrest and search on reasonable suspicion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Pugh

Abstract In response to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic the UK government has passed the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA). Among other things, this act extends existing statutory powers to impose restrictions of liberty for public health purposes. The extension of such powers naturally raises concerns about whether their use will be compatible with human rights law. In particular, it is unclear whether their use will fall within the public heath exception to the Article 5 right to liberty and security of the person in the European Convention of Human Rights. In this paper, I outline key features of the CA, and briefly consider how the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted the public health exception to Article 5 rights. This analysis suggests two grounds on which restrictions of liberty enforced some under the CA might be vulnerable to claims of Article 5 rights violations. First, the absence of specified time limits on certain restrictions of liberty means that they may fail the requirement of legal certainty championed by the European Court in its interpretation of the public health exception. Second, the Coronavirus Act’s extension of powers to individuals lacking public health expertise may undermine the extent to which the act will ensure that deprivations of liberty are necessary and proportionate.


Author(s):  
Nazli Ismail @ Nawang

International law, particularly treaties on human rights, has great influence on the development of the right to freedom of expression. The application of international treaties is very much dependant on the constitutions of individual countries and these constitutions to a large extent are dissimilar from one to another. The position in the United Kingdom is relatively unique since the country has no codified written constitution to safeguard the fundamental right to freedom of expression and as a result it was regarded as residual in nature. Nonetheless, the provisions of the international treaties, particularly the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) have altered this position and accordingly freedom of expression has been formally incorporated into the UK law via the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). Meanwhile, the international human rights treaties is considered to have less influence in Malaysia arguably since the country has a written constitution (the Federal Constitution) that contains a specific part on fundamental liberties including the right to freedom of expression. Keywords: International law, treaties, freedom of expression.


Author(s):  
Colin Faragher

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998. The ECHR guarantees civil and political rights. These are the right to life; the prohibition of torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment; the prohibition of slavery and forced labour; the right to liberty; the right to a fair and unbiased hearing; the prohibition of retrospective legislation; the right to respect for private and family life; freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of expression; freedom of association; the right to marry and found a family. The ECHR has been expanded by a series of supplementary treaties called protocols. The First and Sixth Protocols give individuals additional rights which were incorporated into British law by the HRA 1998.


Amicus Curiae ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-232
Author(s):  
Ian Turner

Article 10(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression, is incorporated into UK law. With the growing Islamist terror threat after 9/11, particularly threatening European security, the Council of Europe introduced the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CPT) 2005. One of the Articles within the Convention, Article 5, obliges states to outlaw ‘public provocation to commit a terrorist offence’. Drawing on its obligations in the CPT, the UK enacted section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006: ‘encouragement of terrorism’. But, in implementing its duties, the UK went further. There are very real concerns, therefore, about the effects of this legislation on freedom of expression. The test for interpreting breaches of Article 10 is ‘proportionality’. Comparatively, in America there is a much stronger test than proportionality, ‘strict scrutiny’, in assessing limits to terror speech. However, in the age of Islamism, together with the speed, ease and little cost incurred in sharing terror speech online, should there not be a reappraisal of American law? The author is based in the UK. But the UK’s approach to limiting terror speech is arguably too intrusive of freedom of expression. This paper, therefore, proposes a compromise approach between the two jurisdictions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 198-211
Author(s):  
Colin Faragher

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998. The ECHR guarantees civil and political rights: these are the right to life; the prohibition of torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment; the prohibition of slavery and forced labour; the right to liberty; the right to a fair and unbiased hearing; the prohibition of retrospective legislation; the right to respect for private and family life; freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of expression; freedom of association; and the right to marry and found a family. The ECHR has been expanded by a series of supplementary treaties called protocols. The First and Sixth Protocols give individuals additional rights which were incorporated into British law by the HRA 1998. This chapter also examines the significance of the Independent Review of the Human Rights Act which is due to be carried out in 2021.


Author(s):  
Richard Clements

The Q&A series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each chapter includes typical questions; diagram problem and essay answer plans, suggested answers, notes of caution, tips on obtaining extra marks, the key debates on each topic and suggestions on further reading. This chapter is all about the freedom to protest and police powers. Freedom to protest is protected by common law, statute and the European Convention on Human Rights. The questions looked at here consider issues such as public order law; the right to protest; the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; and police powers to arrest and search on reasonable suspicion.


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