‘The blanket ban on convicted prisoners voting in the Scottish independence referendum did not contravene prisoners’ rights under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or involve any breach of European Union law.’
WLR Daily, 17th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Lord Chancellor’s Guidance on exceptional funding in civil legal aid is incompatible with the right of access to justice under Article 6 of the ECHR and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Court has further decided that this Guidance was not compatible with Article 8 of the ECHR in immigration cases; in other words, that legal aid should not be refused when applicants for entry to the UK seek to argue that refusal of entry would interfere with their right to respect for private and family life.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The ideal judge is a supremely intelligent woman. She is especially empathetic. She has limitless expertise in every field and infinite patience. We can trust her to do right. She is perfect justice. Lets place her on a pedestal.’
Full story (PDF)
No. 5 Chambers, 16th December 2014
Source: www.no5.com
‘Prison Service Instruction (“PSI”) 30/2013 was unlawful in so far as it included books as earnable within the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme and excluded them from items that could be sent to or received by prisoners.’
WLR Daily, 5th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Strasbourg human rights court is ready to admit it gets things wrong when presented with good arguments.’
The Guardian, 17th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Judicial review is an excellent and flexible remedy, filling the gaps when statutory and other appeals do not provide a remedy for unlawful administrative acts or omissions.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The five-year-long Al Sweady Inquiry is expected to say serious allegations were based on lies and speculation.’
Daily Telegraph, 16th December 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The introduction of EHC plans for some 16-25 year olds was one of the most important changes to SEN in the Children and Families Act 2014. Under the previous regime, a special educational needs statement could not provide for a young person to attend further education or higher education. Even if the child remained in a school setting post-16, the statement would lapse (if the local authority had not already ceased to maintain it) when the young person turned 19, although the local authority could choose to maintain it until the end of that academic year. Young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities who were moving into further education, training or higher education received instead a learning difficulties assessment. This assessment would result in a written report of their educational and training needs and the provision required to meet them (“the LDA”). Any challenge to an LDA was by way of judicial review (as, in contrast to the position for challenges to the contents of SEN statements, there was no statutory right of appeal to the tribunal). That is all changing, with the introduction of EHC plans, which can continue until the young person reaches the age of 25, which can include further education provision (but still not higher education) and which can be appealed to the tribunal. Whilst EHC plans were introduced on 1 September 2014, there is a fairly lengthy transition period and so LDAs will be with us for a little longer yet.’
Education Law Blog, 16th December 2014
Source: www.education11kbw.com
‘The widow of right-to-die campaigner Tony Nicklinson is taking his fight to the European Court of Human Rights.’
BBC News, 16th December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Three men who attempted to carry out suicide bombings on the London Underground in July 2005 have failed to overturn their convictions. The European court of human rights ruled that Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Omar received a fair trial. The men, who are Somali nationals, had complained that there had been a delay in allowing them access to a solicitor.’
The Guardian, 16th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘An NHS Trust v Child B and Mr and Mrs B [2014] EWHC 3486 (Fam) – I posted earlier this year a discussion of Ian McEwan’s pellucid and moving account of the difficulties encountered by judges when steering between the rock of parental faith and the hard place of children’s best interests (The Children Act, 2014). This judgment, although handed down four months ago, has just been published, and confirms that judges may be resolute, however politely, in the face of parents’ insistence that they know what is best for their children.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th December 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In R (Turley) v LB Wandsworth , the Claimant was the partner of the late Mr Doyle, who was the secure tenant of a property at Battersea Park Rd, London, SW8 from 1995 until his death on 17/3/2012. Mr D and Ms T had 4 children together and they lived at the property throughout, apart from a critically important period of separation between December 2010 and January 2012.
Ms T applied to succeed to the secure tenancy but the council decided that because she had not resided at the property for the 12 months immediately preceding Mr D’s death, she did not qualify to succeed. Ms T brought judicial review proceedings against that decision.’
Nearly Legal, 14th December 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
‘On Human Rights day Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP delivered a speech on business and human rights at the Law Society Conference.’
Attorney General’s Office, 10th December 2014
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
‘Type the words “have human rights …” into Google and it automatically suggests “… gone too far[?]”.
This isn’t a surprise: for many people human rights, as set out in the Human Rights Act 1998, are a byword for reckless absurdity. It is a villains’ charter which cares not a jot for law-abiding citizens.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 12th December 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘Indeterminate sentences and the inadequate funding of rehabilitation during them has posed problems since Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences hamstrung the system. The courts here and in Strasbourg have been in two minds what to do about cases where prisoners have not received the assistance they ought to have received – and hence are not, by domestic standards, ready for release.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Contrary to what some media reports would have us believe, Prison Service Instruction (“PSI”) 30/2013 did not impose an absolute ban on books in prisons. It did, however, impose severe restrictions on the possession or acquisition of books which a prisoner can treat as his or her own. The High Court has found that those restrictions could not be justified by the limited provision of prison library services and are therefore unlawful.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In a stunning decision, the Supreme Court has given an indication that the pre-Jackson costs regime may breach the rights of paying parties under the European Convention of Human Rights. The issue has the potential to affect all agreements signed under the pre-April 2013 costs regime.’
Legal Week, 11th December 2014
Source: www.legalweek.com
‘This is a fascinating case, not just on the facts or merits but because it is generated by two of the major catalysts of public law litigation: the government’s duty to look after the security of its citizens, and the rapid outpacing of surveillance law by communications technology. Anyone who has seen The Imitation Game, a film loosely based on the biography of Alan Turing, will appreciate the conflicting currents at the core of this case: the rights of an individual to know, and foresee, what the limits of his freedom are, and the necessity to conceal from the enemy how much we know about their methods. Except the Turing film takes place in official wartime, whereas now the state of being at “war” has taken on a wholly different character.’
Full story
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
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