A historic leap forward for equal pay claimants? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 28th, 2013 in appeals, employment, equal pay, human rights, local government, news, Supreme Court by tracey

“Dumfries and Galloway -v- North [2013] UKSC 45. Yesterday’s much heralded equal pay ‘victory’ in the Supreme Court (see BBC Report) undoubtedly will be good news for the specific female claimants in the case who seek to vindicate their European Union rights to equal pay.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 27th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

British army chief warns over negligence lawsuits – The Guardian

Posted June 28th, 2013 in armed forces, families, human rights, negligence, news, speeches by tracey

“Litigation threat over ill-equipped troops will not affect decisions made in heat of battle, says General Sir Peter Wall.”

Full story

The Guardian, 27th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Will Article 6 come to the rescue after the legal aid reforms? – UK Human Rights Blog

“The absence of legal representation for defendants to an action for debt who contended they could not speak English resulted in the High Court granting an application that the trial be adjourned for a second time. The judgment is a good example of the interaction of Article 6 ECHR (right to a fair trial) with the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 26th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Prisoners could be awarded thousands in compensation over right to vote – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 27th, 2013 in bills, compensation, elections, human rights, news, prisons by sally

“Prisoners could be in line for thousands of pounds each in backdated compensation over the government’s refusal to give them the right to vote, MPs and peers have been warned.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 26th June 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Daily Telegraph have recently introduced a limited paywall. Users will be permitted to view 20 Daily Telegraph articles per month for free, after which they will need to pay a subscription fee to access content.

Cusack v Harrow London Borough Council – WLR Daily

Cusack v Harrow London Borough Council [2013] UKSC 40; [2013] WLR (D) 250

“A highway authority had power under section 80 of the Highways Act 1980 to erect barriers so as to prevent vehicular access to a frontager’s forecourt, without paying compensation, in order to safeguard users of the highway and the fact that section 66(2) of the same Act conferred an alternative power to achieve the same object, which was subject to compensation, was immaterial.”

WLR Daily, 19th June 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Private landlords, disability discrimination and mandatory possession claims – What is the relevance? – Hardwicke Chambers

“Last year Arthur Moore and I ran a seminar in Chancery Lane on the (then) vexed question of to what extent Article 8 and Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights impacted upon private landlords’ possession claims.”

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 20th June 2013

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

A1P1 and property rights in the Supreme Court again – UK Human Rights Blog

“This is the tale of how a solicitor from Harrow ended up litigating about his off-street parking in the Supreme Court – and reached for Article 1 of Protocol 1 (A1P1) of ECHR, by way of a second string to his bow. Not his choice, as he had won in the Court of Appeal on other grounds. But his failure on the point reminds us that in the majority of cases A1P1 is a difficult argument to bring home.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 25th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Right of appeal for family visit visas abolished – Home Office

Posted June 26th, 2013 in appeals, families, human rights, news, visas by sally

“Removal of right of appeal for family visit visas will save more than £100 million over next decade.”

Full story

Home Office, 25th June 2013

Source: www.gov.uk/home-office

The Sun gets regulator reprimand and apologises for misleading on European human rights – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 26th, 2013 in complaints, criminal records, EC law, human rights, media, news by sally

“Remember Inhuman Rights, The Sun’s garbled reporting of this Court of Appeal decision on Criminal Record Bureau checks? In February, I wrote this: No, The Sun, the Human Rights Act is not the EU. My complaint was about the headline, which screamed ‘Now EU could let fiends like him prey on your children’. This was obvious nonsense, since the judgment had nothing to do with the EU.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 26th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Regina v L(C) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v N(HV) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v N(TH) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v T(HD) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) – WLR Daily

Regina v L(C) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v N(HV) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v N(TH) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Same v T(HD) (Children’s Commissioner for England and Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening)[2013] EWCA Crim 991; [2013] WLR (D) 249

“Where the question arose as to whether a defendant who had committed an offence was a victim of trafficking the prosecution was, and remained, responsible for deciding whether to prosecute or not. The court’s role was to protect the rights of a victim of trafficking by overseeing the decision of the prosecutor and refusing to countenance any prosecution which failed to acknowledge and address the victim’s subservient situation.”

WLR Daily, 21st June 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Spinster sisters could win legal right to be treated as married couples, Peers told – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 25th, 2013 in bills, carers, civil partnerships, families, human rights, married persons, news by sally

“The introduction of same-sex marriage could finally open the way for carers and relatives such as unmarried sisters who live together to be given the same legal status as married couples, the House of Lords has been told.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 24th June 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Father who abused children wins right to stay in Britain – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 24th, 2013 in child cruelty, deportation, families, human rights, news by sally

“An illegal immigrant jailed for hitting his children has won a battle against deportation in the UK.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 24th June 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

An ABC on proportionality – with Bank Mellat as our primer – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 24th, 2013 in banking, EC law, human rights, Iran, news, proportionality, Supreme Court by sally

“My post of earlier this week explained why the majority of the Supreme Court struck down a direction telling all financial institutions not to deal with this Iranian Bank. The legal ground (involving, as Lord Sumption described it, ‘an exacting analysis of the factual evidence in defence of the measure’ [20]) was that the direction was ‘disproportionate’. The judgments (particularly the dissenting one of Lord Reed) tell us a lot about the scope of proportionality. And there is a good deal more to it than there might at first sight appear.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

“Snatch Rover” case – inviting judges into the theatre of war? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 21st, 2013 in armed forces, human rights, jurisdiction, negligence, news, Supreme Court, treaties, war by tracey

“Smith and Others (Appellants) v The Ministry of Defence (Respondent) and other appeals. So, the Supreme Court has refused to allow these claims to be struck out on the principle of combat immunity. It has also asserted that jurisdiction for the purpose of an Article 2 right to life claim can extend to non-Convention countries, and that the state can owe a positive duty to protect life, even in a situation of armed combat.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 20th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Smith and Others (Appellants) v The Ministry of Defence (Respondent); Ellis and another (FC) (Respondents) v Ministry of Defence (Appellant); Allbutt and others (FC) (Respondents) v The Ministry of Defence (Appellant) – Supreme Court

Smith and Others (Appellants) v The Ministry of Defence (Respondent); Ellis and another (FC) (Respondents) v Ministry of Defence (Appellant); Allbutt and others (FC) (Respondents) v The Ministry of Defence (Appellant) [2013] UKSC 41 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 19th June 2013

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Smith and others v Ministry of Defence (JUSTICE and another intervening); Ellis and another v Same; Allbutt and others v Same – WLR Daily

Smith and others v Ministry of Defence (JUSTICE and another intervening); Ellis and another v Same; Allbutt and others v Same [2013] UKSC 41; [2013] WLR (D) 239

“Members of the United Kingdom’s armed forces serving in Iraq were within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom for the purposes of article 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Whether claims alleging breaches of the right to life protected by article 2 could be sustained would depend on the particular circumstances.”

WLR Daily, 19th June 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Supreme court MoD ruling ‘will have huge impact on military operations’ – The Guardian

“The supreme court ruling that the Ministry of Defence can be sued for negligence, that the scope of the Human Rights Act should be extended and the traditional doctrine of combat immunity should be interpreted narrowly, will have a huge impact on military commanders, senior officials made clear on Wednesday.”

Full story

The Guardian, 19th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judges and Policy: A Delicate Balance – Speech by Lord Neuberger

Judges and Policy: A Delicate Balance (PDF)

Speech by Lord Neuberger

Institute for Government, 18th June 2013

Source: www.supremecourt.gov.uk

Prism: how can this level of state surveillance be legal? – The Guardian

“It’s hard to see how any system that captures data from millions of law-abiding citizens satisfies our right to privacy”

Full story

The Guardian, 18th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Iraq damages cases: Supreme Court rules families can sue – BBC News

Posted June 19th, 2013 in appeals, armed forces, compensation, duty of care, human rights, Iraq, negligence, news by sally

“The families of soldiers killed in Iraq can pursue damages against the government under the Human Rights Act, the Supreme Court has ruled.”

Full story

BBC News, 19th June 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk