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Archive for December, 2011

The solar power subsidies case : when can you judicially review a proposal?

Posted in Case comments, Environment, In the news, Technology on December 29, 2011 | 4 Comments »

R (on the application of (1) Homesun Holdings (2) Solar Century Holdings (3) Friends of the Earth) v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change  Admin. Ct, Mitting J, 21 December 2011, extempore judgment, so no transcript available This successful challenge to a proposal to modify subsidies for solar power arose out of the decision [...]

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Dr Naik, hate speech and the principle of expectation

Posted in In the news on December 29, 2011 | 6 Comments »

The Queen on the application of Naik v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 1546 – read judgment The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the exclusion of an Indian Muslim public speaker  from the United Kingdom after making statements which breached the Home Office’s “unacceptable behaviours policy” was lawful,  and [...]

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The ECJ on Aslyum, Greece; the UK Protocol on the EU Charter – Dr Cian Murphy

Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Case comments, European, Immigration/Extradition, tagged , , , on December 28, 2011 |

Last Wednesday, the European Court of Justice issued a flurry of judgments just before the Christmas break. Indeed, there were so many interesting and important decisions amongst the twenty or so handed down that seems foolish to consider any of them the ‘most important’. Nonetheless the judgment in NS and Others v SSHD (C-411/10) must be a contender [...]

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UK’s EU failure on air pollution: who enforces?

Posted in Case comments, Case law, Environment, European, In the news on December 22, 2011 |

R (CLIENTEARTH) v SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT FOOD &  RURAL AFFAIRS (2011), QBD (Admin) Mitting J, 13 December 2011, extempore so transcript not available. For some time now, the United Kingdom has known that it is in trouble under EU legislation, Directive 2008/50, limiting the amount of nitrogen dioxide in the air we breathe. The date for [...]

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Terrorist asset-freezing: an intrusion too far – Dr Cian Murphy

Posted in Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Criminal, In the news, Margin of Appreciation, Politics / Public Order, Property, Protocol 1 Art. 1 | Peaceful enjoyment of property, Terrorism, tagged , on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

One could be forgiven, amidst the furore over the European Court of Human Rights’ Al-Khawaja judgment last Thursday, for missing the first report of the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation on the operation of the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc Act 2010. The Report runs to over 100 pages and is the most comprehensive account of UK terrorist asset freezing in print. [...]

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Human rights not a cash milchcow for groundless claims

Posted in In the news on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

We posted previously on  Grant and Gleaves v MOD , giving a summary of the claims and the circumstances of the claimants. This case is interesting chiefly in the judge’s approach to the interpretative obligation of UK Courts under Section 2 of the Human Rights Act, which enjoins them to “take account” of Strasbourg rulings. [...]

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No human right to an hour’s minimum in the open air for “lifer” – Court of Appeal

Posted in Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Prisons on December 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Malcolm v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] EWCA Civ 1538 - Read Judgment The Court of Appeal has decided that a failure to provide a life sentence prisoner with a minimum of one hour in the open air each day did not constitute a breach of his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention [...]

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Slopping out regime in prison not in breach of human rights, judge rules

Posted in In the news on December 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Desmond Grant and Roger Charles Gleaves v Ministry of Justice High Court (Queen’s Bench Division) 19 December 2011 – read judgment The High Court (Mr Justice Hickinbottom) has today dismissed claims by two prisoners that their rights under Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights were violated by the prison conditions [...]

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Release of Pakistani detainee ordered by Court of Appeal

Posted in In the news on December 20, 2011 |

Rahmatullah v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Secretary of State for Defence  [2011] EWCA Civ 1540  - read judgment A Pakistani detainee was sufficiently in the control of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Secretary of State for Defence to support the issue of a [...]

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Hearsay’s OK! Sort of – The Human Rights Roundup

Posted in In the news, tagged , , on December 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Welcome back to the human rights roundup. Our full list of links can be found here. You can also find our table of human rights cases here and previous roundups here. In the news Will Detainee Inquiry hearings broadcast? Have your say The Detainee Inquiry Panel has shown its commitment to carrying out an inquiry that is as open [...]

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Christmas elf….and safety!

Posted in In the news on December 18, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Dufosse v Melbury Events Ltd  CA (Civ Div) (Rix LJ, McFarlane LJ, Sir Mark Potter) December 14, 2011 (extemporare judgment) Christmas is full of hazards for the unwary and nowhere is more dangerous it seems than Santa’s grotto, even where there is no sign of a freeze and the only icicles are plastic ones… Poor Santa. Heavily [...]

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What price unfair dismissal, in times of austerity?

Posted in Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Case law, Case summaries, Costs and Procedure, Disciplinary Proceedings, Employment on December 17, 2011 |

Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Botham (FC) v Ministry of Defence [2011] UKSC 58 – read judgment. Although not strictly speaking a human rights case, the Supreme Court handed down an important employment law decision this week which has significant impact on employees’ ability to claim damages if they are sacked unfairly or if [...]

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What does it mean, to “take account” of Strasbourg judgments?

Posted in In the news on December 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Case C-53/10 Land Hessen v Franz Mücksch OHG – read opinion; read judgment There may not appear at first sight to be much common ground between a dispute in the European Court of Justice (CJEU) over hazardous premises and planning permission, and the relationship between the Strasbourg Court and domestic courts in their interpretation of [...]

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European Court of Human Rights defers to traditional UK common law

Posted in Case law, Company/Commercial, In the news, Protocol 1 Art. 1 | Peaceful enjoyment of property on December 16, 2011 | 3 Comments »

OBG Ltd et al v. United Kingdom, 29 November 2011 We have become quite used to the Strasbourg Court having a serious go at bits of our statutory law, whether it be prisoners’ rights, anti-terrorist legislation or housing law. A lot of this statute enables the state to do things to private citizens which may or [...]

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Use of hearsay evidence does not automatically prevent a fair trial, rules Strasbourg

Posted in In the news on December 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Al-Khawaja and Tahery v United Kingdom (15 December 2011) – read judgment The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled today that convictions based on statements from witnesses who could not be cross examined in court did not violate the applicants’ rights under Article 6(3) (d) to obtain attendance and examination of [...]

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