Human Rights and the Whirligig of Time

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Stephen Sedley

Sir Stephen Sedley, former Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, considers the nature of human rights in this article, which is based on the text of the annual Ruth Adler Memorial Lecture delivered at Edinburgh University Law School in 2015. Sir Stephen undertakes a comparative study of the concept of human rights, one which takes in discussion of human rights culture in the non-Western world as well as the proposal for a British “bill of rights” to replace the European Convention on Human Rights.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pettigrew

In Vinter and Others v. United Kingdom, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that domestic procedures for reviewing whole life prison sentences in England and Wales were in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In response, the domestic Court of Appeal declined to revise those procedures, or the material relating to them, and held that the Grand Chamber was incorrect in its finding; the law did in fact give prisoners hope for future release. Rather than reasserting the reasoning and findings of Vinter, the Grand Chamber has been appeased by the clarification offered by the UK court. The contradictions in that retreat from the Vinter judgement are analysed here and the future standing of the court is prophesized in relation to that decision.


2020 ◽  
pp. 106-130
Author(s):  
Julian Petley

This chapter examines the laws which have had a particular bearing on the practice of journalism in newspapers in England and Wales in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These relate to defamation, privacy, breach of confidence, official secrecy and terrorism. In particular it focusses on the recent impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 on how courts have interpreted and applied the various laws affecting press freedom in these particular areas. It argues that whilst much of the press has chafed against laws which prevent it from invading people’s private lives and unjustly defaming them, it has been remarkably insouciant about those which make it difficult to reveal abuses of state and corporate power.


2019 ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Rhonda Powell

Drawing on the analysis of security in Chapter 3 and the capabilities approach in Chapter 4, Chapter 5 provides examples of the interests that the right to security of person protects. It also considers the extent to which human rights law already recognizes a link between those interests and security of person. Five overlapping examples are discussed in turn: life, the means of life, health, privacy and the home, and autonomy. Illustrations are brought primarily from the European Convention on Human Rights, the Canadian Charter, and the South African Bill of Rights jurisprudence. It is argued that protection against material deprivations that threaten a person’s existence are as much part of the right to personal security as protection against physical assaults. The right to security of person effectively overcomes the problematic distinction between civil and political rights and socio-economic rights because it sits in both categories.


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.


Tort Law ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Steele

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter deals with the actions in defamation that protect reputation, paying particular attention to the relationship between the protected interest in reputation and the competing interest in freedom of expression. It first considers relevant provisions in the Defamation Act 2013, including the ‘serious harm’ criterion, before turning to the terms of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights with regard to freedom of expression, with emphasis on the so-called chilling effect. It also discusses libel and slander as well as malicious falsehood, elements of a claim in defamation, defences available to the accused, and the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales to hear defamation claims. The chapter concludes by looking at parties who cannot sue in defamation.


1998 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Stephanie Palmer

The Labour government has quickly acted on its election promise to introduce a bill of rights into domestic law. The Human Rights Act 1998 partially incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into United Kingdom law. This legislation is part of a wider constitutional package including devolved government for Scotland and Wales and reform of the House of Lords. The government’s programme is intended to modernise and indeed transform the British constitutional structure. According to the government, the Human Rights Act will bring rights home. Individuals will be able to argue for their Convention rights in the United Kingdom’s own courts and tribunals and judges will be able to adjudicate directly on Convention issues. All new laws will be carefully scrutinised to ensure compatibility with Convention rights.


Legal Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-77
Author(s):  
Joanne Conaghan

This paper explores the implications of D v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2016] QB 161, a recent decision of the Court of Appeal in which two victims of a serial rapist successfully sued the Metropolitan police for investigative failures relying on Art 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The paper reflects upon the extent to which English courts are willing to recognise a duty to investigate within the wider context of civil claims against the police, particularly with regard to failures arising from the investigation of crimes of sexual and domestic violence. The comparative scope of tort and human rights claims is also considered, along with the evolving jurisprudential trend towards drawing a firm line between the two kinds of claim.


2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Ghandi

Paper presented by Sandy Ghandi at the Joint Study Institute held at St Anne's College, Oxford, August 2006.


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