Open justice and crosses to bear – The Human Rights Roundup

29 March 2011 by Graeme Hall

It’s time for the human rights roundup, a regular bulletin of all the law we haven’t quite managed to feature in full blog posts. The full list of links, updated each day, can be found here.

by Graeme Hall

In the news:

James Wilson, writing in the Halsbury’s Law Exchange blog, examines Lord Neuberger’s discussion relating to the form and content of legal judgments, delivered in the 2011 Judicial Studies Board Lecture “Open Justice Unbound“. Whilst agreeing with many of the points Lord Neuberger made, Wilson highlights the difficulties in making judgments comprehensible to members of the public. Click here to see Adam Wagner’s post on ‘open justice’ and the accessibility of the law, a theme which is developed by Lucy Series in The Small Places blog.

Also in Halsbury’s Law Exchange, Simon Hetherington discusses so-called “hyper-injunctions”, where the courts prohibit those involved in litigation from discussing the case with their MP, amongst others. Hetherington examines the legal basis which provides the courts with these powers and concludes that there is an urgent need for Parliament to intervene. Click here for Adam Wagner’s analysis of these legal tools.

Writing in the Strasbourg Observers blog, Stijn Smet assesses the European Court of Human Rights’ decision in Lautsi v. Italy and the complexities which the decision entails, suggesting that the display of religious symbols in state schools should (not?) be an issue to be decided by an international court human rights.

Finally, Alex Aldridge interviews Joshua Rozenberg for legalweek.com about the last 25 years of his career as a legal reporter. Click here for the interview.

In the courts:

Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] UKSC 12 (23 March 2011): Secret foreign nationals detention policy which contradicted published policy was “serious abuse of power”.

…and don’t forget to take a look at our recent posts:

• Reform of Strasbourg Court: a modest proposal – Aidan O’Neill QC March 28, 2011 1 Crown Office Row
• Blow to Parliament Square protest camp March 28, 2011 Alasdair Henderson
• Benefits tourism in the EU – Analysis March 25, 2011 Rosalind English
• Child’s identity to remain a secret March 24, 2011 Maria Roche
• Can the Media use Parliamentary Privilege to Circumvent Reporting Restrictions in Privacy Injunctions? – Henry Fox March 24, 2011 1 Crown Office Row
• Secret foreign nationals detention policy was “serious abuse of power” March 23, 2011 Adam Wagner
• Where do I belong? March 23, 2011 Isabel McArdle
• Open online justice – what do you think? March 22, 2011 Adam Wagner