AT v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 42 – Read Judgment The Court of Appeal has upheld a challenge to a control order on the basis that the person subject to the order (‘the controllee’) had not been given sufficient information about the case against him. How do you solve [...]
Archive for the ‘Criminal’ Category
Another control order ruled unlawful for breach of right to fair trial
Posted in Art. 5 | Right to Liberty, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Case summaries, Criminal, In the news, Terrorism, tagged abu qatada, Control orders, terrorism act 2000 on February 11, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Indefinite detention: not very British
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Criminal, European, Immigration/Extradition, In the news, Prisons, Terrorism, tagged abu qatada on February 8, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Angus McCullough QC appeared for Abu Qatada as his Special Advocate in the domestic proceedings before SIAC, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. He is not the author of this post. ‘Human Rights Act to blame!’ is a frequent refrain in the media, as well reported on this blog. Often, though, the outcome [...]
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 [...]
Extradition of murder accused to US not breach of human rights
Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Case law, Criminal, Immigration/Extradition, International, Prisons, tagged Harkins and Edwards on January 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »
HARKINS AND EDWARDS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – 9146/07 [2012] ECHR 45 – Read judgment The European Court of Human Rights has found that there would be no breach of Article 3 ECHR (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) in extraditing two men accused of murder to the US. The men argued that they face the death [...]
Metropolitan Police succeed in G20 “kettling” appeal
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 11 | Freedom of Association, Case summaries, Criminal, Police, tagged G20 protest, Kettling on January 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
R (on the application of Hannah McClure and Joshua Moos) v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2012] EWCA Civ 12 – Read judgment The Metropolitan Police has succeeded in its appeal against a Divisional Court ruling (see previous post) that the use of crowd control measures – in this case, containment or “kettling” – [...]
Everything’s free in America (copyrighted material not included)
Posted in Art. 5 | Right to Liberty, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case law, Case summaries, Criminal, In the news, International, Technology, tagged Copyright, extradition act, Piracy, Richard O'Dwyer on January 18, 2012 |
The Government of the United States of America -v- O’Dwyer, Westminster Magistrates’ Court – Read judgment It seems appropriate, on the day when Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours to protest against US anti-piracy legislation, to talk about piracy (in the copyright sense) and what role human rights law has to play in the perpetual battle [...]
Is internet access a human right?
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Criminal, In the news, Technology, tagged European Convention on Human Rights, Freedom of Expression, vinton cerf on January 11, 2012 | 3 Comments »
A recent United Nations Human Rights Council report examined the important question of whether internet access is a human right. Whilst the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions are nuanced in respect of blocking sites or providing limited access, he is clear that restricting access completely will always be a breach of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil [...]
Making a Fist of It: The Law and Obscenity
Posted in Art. 14 | Anti-Discrimination, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Criminal on January 9, 2012 | 6 Comments »
On Friday 6 January 2012, a historic case came to a conclusion in Courtroom 7 of Southwark Crown Court. Michael Peacock was unanimously acquitted, after a four-day trial that saw the outdated obscenity law of England and Wales in the dock. Peacock had been charged under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 for allegedly distributing ‘obscene’ [...]
Why Stephen Lawrence killers were sentenced as juveniles and under old law
Posted in Art. 7 | Retrospective Punishment, Criminal, In the news, tagged European Convention on Human Rights, gary dobson on January 4, 2012 | 13 Comments »
Updated | Two of Stephen Lawrence’s killers Gary Dobson and David Norris have been sentenced to minimum life terms “at her Her Majesty’s Pleasure” of 15 years 2 months and and 14 years 3 months respectively. There has been surprise, from the Daily Mail amongst others that Dobson and Norris, now in their mid-30s, were [...]
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 European Court of Human Rights, terrorism legislation 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. [...]
What to do with ‘cold cases’ when they eventually heat up
Posted in Art. 7 | Retrospective Punishment, Case law, Case summaries, Criminal, In the news on December 8, 2011 | 3 Comments »
R v. H & others [2011] EWCA Crim 2753 – read judgment. One of the most popular ideas in crime fiction is the ‘cold case’; the apparently unsolved crime which, through various twists and turns, is brought to justice many years after it was committed. Indeed, at least two recent long-running TV dramas (the American [...]
“Would Judges like to be told to eff off in court?”… what the police swearing judgment really says
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Case comments, Criminal, Police, Poor reporting on December 1, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Harvey v Director of Public Prosecutions [2011] EWHC Crim B1 – Read judgment “What on earth was he thinking?” asks a Telegraph article bearing as its title another rhetorical question, “Would Judges like to be told to eff off in court?”. This is in reference to Mr Justice Bean’s judgment in Harvey v Director of [...]
Should more trials be held in secret?
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Criminal, Damages, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Politics / Public Order, Public/Private, Secret justice, Terrorism on December 1, 2011 | 6 Comments »
There is just over a month left to respond to the Government’s consultation on the Justice and Security Green Paper. Responses have to be be sent via email or post by Friday 6 January 2012. The proposals have been little reported, save for journalist Joshua Rozenberg, channeling Dinah Rose QC, warning that they will “undermine a fundamental constitutional right:”. Perhaps [...]





Scottish bail conditions breach human rights to liberty, rules Scottish court
Posted in Art. 5 | Right to Liberty, Case comments, Criminal, Scotland on February 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Cameron v. Procurator Fiscal [2012] ScotHC HCJAC_19 – Read judgment Amongst Scots lawyers, few judicial observations are more notorious than those uttered by Lord Cranworth in the House of Lords in Bartonshill Coal Co v Reid in 1858. “If such be the law of England,” he said, “on what ground can it be argued not [...]
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