Round Up

The top 20 posts of 2010

30 December 2010 by Guest Contributor

Below are the 20 top posts on the UK Human Rights Blog in 2010. It is fascinating to see which posts generate the most views.

Have a happy new year, and if you like what you read, don’t forget to subscribe for free via Facebook, Twitter, RSS or email!

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Family legal aid tender process was “unfair, unlawful and irrational”

30 September 2010 by Adam Wagner

Updated The High Court has ruled that the Legal Service Commission’s legal aid tender process was “unfair, unlawful and irrational”. The decision came in  a judicial review of the tender brought by the Law Society.

According to the Law Society’s press release:

The failure of the LSC to anticipate, let alone manage, the outcome of the process was the latest and perhaps most alarming of the LSC’s apparently haphazard attempts to reshape legal aid…

The LSC’s actions would have seen the number of offices where the public could get subsidised help with family cases drastically cut from 2400 to 1300.

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New independent legal think-tank Halsbury’s Law Exchange launched

7 September 2010 by Adam Wagner

This week sees the launch of the Halsbury’s Law Exchange, a new independent legal think-tank funded by LexisNexis.

The new organisation describes itself as “an independent and politically neutral think tank which contributes to the development of law and the legal sector“, aiming to “promote debate through papers, reports, events and media pieces.” The think-tank is chaired by legal journalist Joshua Rozenberg, who is joined by a number of eminent barristers and solicitors.

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Human rights news and case-law roundup

17 August 2010 by Adam Wagner

Hoovering up the latest human rights news

We recently started adding links to interesting new articles and case-law on the right the sidebar under the heading “Selected news sources”.

As of last week, these articles now appear on our Twitter feed (@ukhumanrightsb) and Facebook fan page too. Below is a quick rundown of some of the most recent stories. The full list of links can be found here.

17 Aug | Privacy law to stop rise in gagging orders by judges – Telegraph: We have posted on the coming libel reform and super-injunctions; Lord Neuberger is leading a review which may, according to the Telegraph, lead to a statutory law of privacy. The Head of Legal Blog queries whether this would be any different from Article 8 of the ECHR in any case.

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Human rights news and case law roundup

12 July 2010 by Adam Wagner

• 11 July | Legal aid cuts are inevitable in renegotiation of the social contract: Afua Hirsch in the Guardian discusses the likely effects of the coming legal aid reforms.

• 9 July | Liberal in name only: Conner Gearty criticises the Liberal Democrats for failing to live up to their party’s name.

• 9 July | UK government plans major review of libel law: We have posted a number of times (see here) on the upcoming libel reforms, which may have significant impact on freedom of speech as well as the right to privacy.

• 9 July 2010 | Case Law: AP (No.2) – Supreme Court on Anonymity: A case comment from INFORRM on AP (No. 2), a recent Supreme Court ruling on control orders and anonymity orders (see our post)

• 8 July | A humane nation is a safer nation: The Foreign Secretary has said human rights are the “irreducible core” of foreign policy, along with poverty prevention. See his speech here.

• 8 July | Does the UK need a comprehensive constitutional framework?: Joshua Rozenberg reignites this debate, which we have discussed recently.

• 6 July | Scotland allows collection of children’s DNA: Police in Scotland will be able to collect and store the DNA of children as young as eight. The Coalition have promised to scale back DNA laws in England and Wales.

Round-up of European Court of Human Rights Cases

1 June 2010 by Adam Wagner

The European Court

The UK Supreme Court Blog has posted a useful round-up of key European Court of Human Rights judgments from the past few months.

The following cases catch the eye (all summaries courtesy of the UK Supreme Court Blog):

Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v. the United Kingdom(Application no. 61498/08) (2 March 2010) This was a case about two Iraqis taken prisoner by the British troops in Iraq and handed over to the Iraqi authorities against the ECtHR’s previous orders. The ECtHR found a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture) as the two prisoners had been exposed to the death penalty which they would face in Iraq. This judgment is important in the context of a series of decisions and judgments on the death penalty (see paragraph. 123 of the judgment).

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You may have missed…

24 April 2010 by Guest Contributor

UK Human Rights Blog posts from last week that you may have missed

Case law

• Medical intervention without parental consent violated child’s and parents’ Article 8 rights says Strasbourg Court
• Judges should consider parents’ interests under Article 8 of the Convention before granting care orders
• Judge’s failure to warn jury over defendant’s silence did not render trial unfair
• Sex offenders’ lifelong living and travel restrictions were breach of human rights

News

• President of the Supreme Court argues Human Rights Act is here to stay, perhaps
• Google steps up pressure on Government censorship
• Prisoner takes UK to court for right to vote
• Government back in court over foreign torture allegations

Features

• Feature | DNA Database: another key human rights election issue

Recent news posts

18 April 2010 by Guest Contributor

Recent news posts which you may have missed:

• What was the Lord Chief Justice really saying about the European Court?
• Singh libel case dropped in light of robust Court of Appeal judgment
• Will the Human Rights Act survive the May 6th election?
• Legal aid is a human right, even for politicians
• New head of Family Court says social workers perceived as “arrogant and enthusiastic removers of children”

You can also read our archive of news posts here

Recent case law posts

17 April 2010 by Guest Contributor

Recent case law posts which you may have missed:

• Refusal to grant legal aid to mother for inquest into son’s death was unlawful
• Is the historic right to trial by jury slipping away?
• High Court defends freedom of expression for news websites
• NHS Nurse banned from wearing crucifix at work loses discrimination claim
• Removal of child following faulty diagnosis of injury breached Article 8

You can also read our archive of case law posts here

Recent posts roundup

29 March 2010 by Guest Contributor

• European Court rejects UK pensioners’ top-up claim
• Joint Committee on Human Rights calls for control order scheme to be discontinued
• Sharper teeth for the European Court of Human Rights?
• European Commission warns the UK about unfair cost of challenging environmental decisions
• Not unlawful for a Roman Catholic adoption agency to reject same-sex couples
• Are civil partnerships compatible with human rights law?
• Does the Human Rights Act apply to the Battlefield?

Recent case summaries

20 March 2010 by Guest Contributor

• Not unlawful for a Roman Catholic adoption agency to reject same-sex couples (19 March 2010)
• Education not recognised as a “civil right” under Convention due process rules (12 March 2010)
• Exceptionally serious circumstances must be established to resist extradition order says Supreme Court (5 March 2010)
• EU Directive on Refugee status does not enhance asylum rights under Strasbourg Convention (28 February 2010)
• Mutual confidentiality between intelligence services trumped by open justice requirements (25 February 2010)
• Hindu wins right to be cremated on a traditional funeral pyre (11 February 2010)

Recent posts roundup

16 March 2010 by Guest Contributor

Last week on the UK Human Rights Blog:

• Education not recognised as a “civil right” under Convention due process rules
• Have MI5 “inflicted a body blow on their own reputation”?
• Exceptionally serious circumstances must be established to resist extradition order says Supreme Court
• Should children be protected against giving evidence in court?
• Towards a UK Bill of Rights?