3. The European Convention and the law of the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-65
Author(s):  
Howard Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Common Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
The Uk

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter focuses on the European Convention on Human Rights, which the UK signed in 1950, and on its impact in the UK prior to the Human Rights Act coming into force in October 2000. The UK’s signing of the Convention entailed the country’s acceptance of the obligation to ‘secure for everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms in Section 1 of this Convention’. The Convention is not applied directly by the UK courts. The Convention remains part of international law, which is not directly enforceable in UK courts. The chapter also considers the development of fundamental common law rights which have developed in parallel to the Convention. There is a section on ‘Brexit’ and its impact on the protection of human rights in the UK.

scholarly journals After the Honeymoon: The Uneasy Marriage of Human Rights and the Environment Under the European Convention on Human Rights and in UK Law Under the Human Rights Act 1998

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 317-368
Author(s):  
Karen Morrow
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Law

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) (ECHR) regime has, in the absence of specific coverage of environmental rights, developed a “creative” approach in its jurisprudence in this area, pressing a variety of other rights, notably: Article 6 (the right to a fair hearing); Article 8 (the right to privacy and family life); and Article 1 to the First Protocol of the ECHR (the right to enjoyment of property) into service. This creativity has achieved much in according indirect protection to individuals in this regard, but has also placed additional pressure on the already congested Convention system. The entry into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) made long-held rights under the ECHR directly accessible in domestic law in the United Kingdom. This naturally spawned a wave of litigation. One of the most prominently litigated areas concerned the pursuit of a variety of environment-based rights claims. In the intervening decade, the application of the ECHR to environmental claims in the UK courts has generated somewhat mixed results. This is in part a result of the “patchwork” approach that has developed toward environmental claims within the Convention regime itself, but it is also a product of the nature of the relationship between the ECHR and domestic law and the content and ethos of both regimes. This article will conclude by briefly considering the on-going role of the ECHR regime in environmental cases in light of subsequent developments in this area of law, notably under the Aarhus Convention.

17. Freedoms and liberties in the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 407-450
Author(s):  
Neil Parpworth
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Uk

This chapter is concerned with how freedoms and liberties might be protected in the UK. It begins with an attempt to distinguish between human rights and civil liberties, whilst recognizing that this is by no means a straightforward task. It then covers political and social or economic rights, the traditional means of protecting civil liberties in the UK, the European Convention on Human Rights, the incorporation of the Convention into English law, and judicial deference/discretionary areas of judgment. The Human Rights Act 1998 is reviewed from a protection of rights perspective. Finally, the question of a Bill of Rights for the UK is considered.

5. The Human Rights Act 1998 (2): proceedings and remedies

2021 ◽  
pp. 114-129
Author(s):  
Howard Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Self Test ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter continues the analysis of the Human Rights Act. It discusses how cases can be brought under the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and what remedies are available from the courts if a violation of a Convention right is found. The aim here is to delve deeper into the issue of how the rights of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are given further effect in the law of the UK by the HRA. The main issues discussed in the chapter include the importance of remedies and Article 13 ECHR—the right to a remedy, procedural issues for seeking remedies under the HRA, and remedies available under the HRA.

R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Home Department ◽  
Editorial Decisions

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords. The case considered whether the Secretary of State could restrict the editorial decisions of broadcasters as regards the way in which messages from spokespersons for proscribed organizations were broadcast. The United Kingdom was a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when the case was heard, but the case also predates the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998. There is discussion of the legal position of the ECHR under the common law in the United Kingdom, and the concept of proportionality in United Kingdom’s domestic jurisprudence. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.

21. Applications: prisoners’ rights

2021 ◽  
pp. 433-447
Author(s):  
Howard Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Self Test ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Article 5 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Domestic Law

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter considers the application of Convention rights in the field of prisoners’ rights; the impact of Convention rights on prisoners in the UK is considered. Prisoners remain within the protection of the European Convention on Human Rights, though the application of these rights will take their position into account. Prisoners’ rights include not only rights to the non-arbitrary loss of liberty (Article 5) and rights to fair procedures (Articles 5 and 6), but also not to be disproportionately denied the rights and freedoms in Articles 8–11. Imprisonment deprives individuals of their liberty and, therefore, is a public function for which the state is responsible under the Convention. The controversy over prisoners’ right to vote is discussed in Chapter 25.

15. The European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

Public Law ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Stanton ◽  
Craig Prescott
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Positive Rights ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Uk

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.

scholarly journals ABORTION IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: REFLECTIONS FROM THE UK SUPREME COURT

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-494
Author(s):  
Bríd Ní Ghráinne ◽  
Aisling McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
International Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Uk Supreme Court ◽  
The Uk

AbstractOn 7 June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (UKSCt) issued its decision on, inter alia, whether Northern Ireland's near-total abortion ban was compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). This article critically assesses the UKSC's treatment of international law in this case. It argues that the UKSCt was justified in finding that Northern Ireland's ban on abortion in cases of rape, incest, and FFA was a violation of Article 8, but that the majority erred in its assessment of Article 3 ECHR and of the relevance of international law more generally.

The Future of Informed Consent in British Common Law

1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Common Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Law

AbstractWithin the common law world, the use of the term informed consent implies the American doctrine. Informed consent as a doctrine is not part of the law in the United Kingdom. However, it is possible to predict a way forward in disclosure cases yet to be heard in the courts of the United Kingdom. These predictions are based on current developments in the common law in the United Kingdom as well as those in Canada and Australia, on the European convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and on trends within the medical profession itself in the light of the Bolam test.

The Legal Protection of Believers and Beliefs in the United Kingdom

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier García Oliva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Legal Mechanism ◽  
Degree Of Overlap

The enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 is the most recent legal mechanism developed to protect believers, beliefs and religious feelings in the United Kingdom. Despite the recognition of a certain degree of overlap between the different categories, this article proposes a broad distinction between legal devices which protect believers and those which safeguard beliefs and religious feelings. The common law offence of blasphemy is analysed, taking into consideration the response of both the UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights. The endorsement of the English law of blasphemy by Strasbourg is particularly relevant. Furthermore, this paper focuses on different instruments that, throughout the last few decades, have been articulated to protect the faithful, such as the crimes of religiously aggravated offences and the offence of incitement to religious hatred.

Public Authority Liability in the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Gordon Anthony
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Natural Justice ◽  
Administrative Procedure ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
European Court ◽  
External Sources ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
The Uk

Although the UK has not what would be recognized by other legal systems as a general principle of damages liability concerning public authorities, there is no general shield of immunity for them. Nor is there a separate, or dedicated, system of courts that deals with administrative liability. Finally, there is no such thing as a codification of administrative procedure. However, the rules of administrative procedure can be found not only in common law (the rules of ‘natural justice’ or ‘fairness’, i.e. the rule against bias and audi alteram partem) and in statute law, but also in external sources, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular, in Article 6. The latter has obviously influenced case law under the Human Rights Act, notably through the requirement that UK courts take into account the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Considered as a whole, these sources set out standards of procedural fairness and propriety which must be respected by public authorities.

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