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Archive for the ‘Inquests and Inquiries’ Category

Analysis: No more Iraq mistreatment inquiries (for now at least)

Posted in Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, BLOG POSTS, Case law, Case summaries, Inquests and Inquiries, International on January 17, 2011 |

R (Ali Zaki Mousa) v. Secretary of State for Defence [2010] EWHC 3304 (Admin)  (21 December 2010) – read judgment The High Court has dismissed a challenge to the government’s decision to ‘wait and see’ if another public inquiry into abuse of Iraqi detainees is necessary, pending the outcome of internal Ministry of Defence investigations. [...]

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The Redfern Inquiry: the latest investigation into the removal and retention of human tissue

Posted in 1COR, BLOG POSTS, Case summaries, Environment, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Medical, Personal Injury on December 31, 2010 |

November saw the publication of the report of the Redfern Inquiry into human tissue analysis in UK nuclear facilities (read the report, here). The inquiry was the latest in a number of investigations looking at the post mortem removal, retention and disposal of human body parts by medical and other bodies, and the extent to [...]

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A welcome clarification for relatives of the dead

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Case comments, Inquests and Inquiries on December 23, 2010 |

Legal Services Commission v Humberstone, R.( On the application of) [2010] EWCA Civ 1479 (21 December 2010) – Read judgment The high court was right to quash the decision of the Legal Services Commission not to recommend public funding for a mother to be represented at the inquest into the death of her 10-year-old son. [...]

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Home Secretary will not appeal 7/7 Inquests secret evidence ruling

Posted in Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Terrorism, tagged on December 13, 2010 |

The Home Secretary has said that the government will not appeal the High Court’s decision to uphold that there were to be no ‘closed’ hearings at the 7/7 inquests. As we posted earlier this month, The High Court, composed of two colleagues of the Coroner (Dame Heather Hallett) in the Court of Appeal, robustly rejected the [...]

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Analysis: High Court upholds 7/7 secrecy ruling

Posted in Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Case summaries, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged on December 1, 2010 |

On 30 November 2010 the High Court handed down its written ruling upholding the 7/7 inquests Coroner’s decision that there were to be no ‘closed’ hearings at the inquests. An analysis of the Coroner’s decision can be found here. The High Court had previously given its decision, with an indication that reasons were to follow. [...]

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Analysis: No secret hearings at 7/7 Inquests

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Police, Politics / Public Order, Terrorism, tagged , on November 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Updated | On 3 November the judge acting as coroner for the 7/7 inquests ruled that she does not have the power to hold secret hearings to hear evidence which, if made public, would pose a threat to national security. Dame Heather Hallett also ruled that although she, as a Court of Appeal Judge, could [...]

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Abolition of Chief Coroner post slammed

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries on October 19, 2010 |

In August we commented on the risk that long-awaited reform of the coronial system would be shelved by the Ministry of Justice, arguing that the wait for promised reforms had left relatives of the dead in legal limbo. To the dismay of campaigners, the new office of the Chief Coroner for England and Wales has [...]

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Coroners take action on deaths in custody

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged on September 29, 2010 |

Coroners are making more recommendations about how to avoid deaths in custody, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Justice. The latest statistics on “rule 43 reports”, where coroners make reports to prevent future deaths, show that deaths in custody account for 11% of reports made, up from just over 6% in the [...]

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Widow of 7/7 bomber refused legal aid for inquest

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Case summaries, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged on August 27, 2010 |

Patel, R (on the application of) v Lord Chancellor [2010] EWHC 2220 (Admin) (27 August 2010) – Read judgment The wife of the purported ringleader of the ’7/7′ London bombings has failed in her judicial review of the Lord Chancellor’s decision to refuse her funding for legal representation at the inquest into the bombings. Ms [...]

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Inquest reforms delay leaves relatives of the dead in legal limbo

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged , , on August 13, 2010 |

It has long been accepted that the coroners’ courts, which investigate tens of thousands of deaths per year, are in urgent need of reform. But long-awaited changes are now under threat from Ministry of Justice budget cuts, leaving relatives of the dead with an inconsistent system of varying quality. This arguably places the state in [...]

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Feature | The duty to investigate deaths under human rights law: Part 2

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Case summaries, Features, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged , , on July 15, 2010 |

R (Humberstone) v Legal Services Commission [2010] EWHC 760 (Admin) – Read case Part 2 of Matthew Hill’s feature on the duty to investigate deaths under human rights law (read Part I). A recent High Court decision (see previous post) concerning the funding of a party at a coroner’s inquest has highlighted the importance of [...]

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Feature | The duty to investigate deaths under human rights law: Part 1

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Features, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged , , , on July 12, 2010 |

Silih v Slovenia (2009) 49 E.H.R.R. 37 – Read judgment, McCaughey and Quinn’s Application [2010] NICA 13 – Read judgment This is Part I of Matthew Hill’s feature. Click here for Part II. A recent decision of the Strasbourg Court has reopened the issue of the State’s obligation to investigate deaths under the European Convention [...]

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Torture inquiry details announced

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Art. 3 | Torture / Inhumane Treatment, Art. 5 | Right to Liberty, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Politics / Public Order, Terrorism, tagged , , on July 6, 2010 |

The details of the forthcoming wide-ranging public inquiry into British complicity with “rendition” and torture abroad have been announced by the Prime Minister. He also announced the public release of guidance, formerly secret, on the questioning of suspects overseas, and that a new committee is to review the use of secret evidence in court proceedings. [...]

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Human rights on the battlefield – a postscript on ‘dicta’ (and ‘dicta’)

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Case comments, Inquests and Inquiries, tagged , , , , on July 1, 2010 |

Even if technically obiter, it is suggested that the reasoned decision of the majority of the Supreme Court in Smith is likely to be regarded as binding in practice, if not in strict theory. This is a postscript to Adam Wagner’s post this morning on the UKSC decision in R (Smith) v. MOD (see our [...]

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Was human rights on battlefield decision binding?

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, In the news, Inquests and Inquiries, Terrorism, tagged , , , on July 1, 2010 |

It is possible that yesterday’s controversial Supreme Court decision on human rights on the battlefield was merely an academic exercise and therefore not binding on future courts. There has been significant commentary and conjecture over the decision in R (Smith) v Secretary of State for Defence & Anor (see our post or read the judgment). [...]

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