Mary Teresa Doogan & Concepta Wood [2012] CSOH 32 – Read judgment “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want of a horse, the rider was lost, for the want of a rider, the message was lost, for the want [...]
Archive for the ‘Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion’ Category
Catholic midwives must continue indirect role in abortions, despite human rights protections
Posted in Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case law, Case summaries, Medical, Religion, Scotland, tagged abortion, human rights, Religion on March 6, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Is it legal to teach gay hate in schools?
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Children, Discrimination, Education, In the news, Religion, tagged Equality Act, michael gove, roman catholic schools on February 19, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Updated, 20 Feb 2012 | Following the news recently it would seem that the UK is convulsed by a raging battle between religious observers and, in the words of Baroness Warsi, militant secularists. On the same day, the High Court ruled that Christian prayers held before a council meeting were unlawful, and the Court of Appeal [...]
Prayer in council meetings was unlawful, rules High Court
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case comments, Discrimination, In the news, Religion on February 10, 2012 | 6 Comments »
R on the application of the National Secular Society and Clive Bone v Bideford Town Council – read judgment The High Court today ruled that the Town Council of Bideford (in Devon) had overreached their powers under the Local Government Act 1972 by insisting on the practice of prayers as part of their formal meetings. The ruling will [...]
Are lawyers in right-to-die cases breaking the law?
Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case summaries, Criminal, Disciplinary Proceedings, Medical, tagged assisting suicide, suicide act 1961 on January 31, 2012 |
Philip Havers QC of 1 Crown Office Row is representing Martin in the judicial review proceedings. He is not the author of this post. Albert Camus famously wrote: ‘there is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.’ However profound a philosophical problem, the question of suicide or, more precisely, assisted suicide is proving quite [...]
Archbishop on warpath
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Discrimination, In the news, Public/Private, Religion, tagged church, Gay marriage on January 29, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, has thrown a firecracker into the consultation on gay marriage, which is about to begin in March. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph he declared that he did not agree that it was the role of the state to define what marriage is. ”It is set in tradition and history and [...]
A human right to object to war
Posted in Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case summaries, In the news, Politics / Public Order, Religion on December 13, 2011 | 7 Comments »
R v Michael Peter Lyons [2011] EWCA Crim 2808- read judgment Moral objections to the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan do not constitute a defence to an insubordination charge, the Court Martial Appeal Court has ruled. The appellant was not entitled to disobey a lawful command on the ground of conscientious objection. At the age of [...]
Lawful for Home Secretary to deport Palestinian activist accused of fostering hatred
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 11 | Freedom of Association, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case summaries, Immigration/Extradition, Politics / Public Order, tagged Raed Saleh on November 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Raed Mahajna v Secretary of State for the Home Department IA/21/21631/2011 – Read Judgment 1 Crown Office Row’s Neil Sheldon appeared for the Secretary of State in this case. He is not the writer of this post. The First-Tier Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chamber), has upheld the decision of the Home Secretary to deport Raed [...]
Equality and Human Rights Commission reverses position on religious cases intervention
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, European, In the news, Religion on August 22, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has reversed its plans to intervene in two European Court of Human Rights cases about religious discrimination. Last month the Commission announced that it would intervene in European Court of Human Rights cases on behalf of religious believers who failed to convince the UK courts that they were being [...]
Religious freedom does not stop at the prison gates – Part 2
Posted in Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case comments, Case summaries, In the news, Prisons, Religion on July 21, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Jakobski v Poland (December 2010) – read judgment Mahayana Buddhists have profound moral objections to eating meat. According to the rules, a Mahayana Buddhist should avoid eating meat to cultivate compassion for all living beings. Even peaceable Buddhists commit crimes sometimes and go to prison. Meat free diets however are not available in all European [...]
A leap of faith?
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Employment, In the news, Religion, tagged EHRC, sexual orientation on July 20, 2011 | 8 Comments »
In the midst of all the coverage of the phone hacking scandal and the mounting woes of News Corporation an interesting piece of human rights news from the past week got lost: the announcement by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (“EHRC”) that it is applying to intervene in four cases before the European Court of [...]
Hey, teacher! Leave those cornrows alone
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Children, Discrimination, Education, In the news, tagged cornrows on June 20, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Updated | SG v St Gregory’s Catholic Science College [2011] EWHC 1452 (Admin) (17 June 2010) – Read judgment Most people have their first taste of injustice at school. This is hardly surprising: an institution containing hundreds of teenagers for whom rebellion is a biological imperative is always going to be difficult to control. In [...]
Should male circumcision be banned?
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, In the news, Medical, Religion on June 15, 2011 | 19 Comments »
Yesterday Neil Howard and Rebecca Steinfeld asked via guardian.co.uk whether it is Time to ban male circumcision? The article was prompted by attempts to ban the practice in San Francisco. Male circumcision is common amongst Muslims and Jews, but judging from the 286 comments (so far!) to the article, there are a lot of people who feel [...]
Religious freedom doesn’t stop at the prison gate
Posted in Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case law, Case summaries, In the news, Prisons, Religion on June 7, 2011 | 4 Comments »
R (Imran Bashir) v. The Independent Adjudicator, HMP Ryehill and the Secretary of State for Justice [2011] EWHC 1108 – read judgment here. 1 Crown Office Row’s John Joliffe appeared for the Secretary of State for Justice in this case. He is not the writer of this post. The High Court held last week that disciplining a [...]
Control orders and human rights to family life: not always incompatible
Posted in Art. 11 | Freedom of Association, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case comments, Case law, Margin of Appreciation, Terrorism, tagged anti-terrorist legislation, Control orders on June 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »
CD v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWHC 1273 (Admin) Read judgment As readers of this blog will know, control orders have often been successfully challenged in the courts on human rights grounds. But in this case, an order forcing a person to relocate to a different part of the country was found to be [...]





Analysis | Court of Appeal upholds hotel gay discrimination ruling – Marina Wheeler
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Art. 9 | Thought/Conscience/Religion, Case comments, Discrimination, Religion, tagged gay discrimination, Peter and Hazelmary Bull on February 19, 2012 | 23 Comments »
Bull & Bull v Hall & Preddy [2012] EWCA Civ 83 – Read judgment On 10th February 2012, the Court of Appeal upheld a Judge’s ruling that a Christian couple, Peter and Hazelmary Bull, had discriminated against Martin Hall and Steven Preddy on grounds of sexual orientation when they refused them a double-bedded room at [...]
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