‘The appellants challenged Lockdown regulations made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic on 26 March 2020. Their argument was that the regulations imposed sweeping restrictions on civil liberties which were unprecedented and were unlawful on three grounds. First, the Government had no power under the legislation they used to make the regulations, namely the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (“the 1984 Act”). Secondly, they were unlawful under ordinary public law principles (failing to take account of relevant considerations, fettering of discretion); and thirdly they violated a number of the Convention rights which are guaranteed in domestic law under the Human Rights Act 1998 (“HRA”). Although the regulations were amended on several occasions and have since been repealed, the appellants contended that it remained important that the legal issues which arose should be authoritatively determined in the public interest.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 3rd December 2020
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
