‘Constitutional shake-up would shift the balance at Westminster in favour of repealing the Hunting Act 2004, Countryside Alliance believes.’
Daily Telegraph, 4th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Four of the five main UK political parties have voiced support for a constitutional convention based on popular participation. But what form should such a convention take? There are a variety of possible models and some would work much better than others. This presentation will set out criteria that can be used to evaluate the options and then draw on evidence from recent reform processes – notably in Canada, Iceland, and Ireland – to see which options are more or less likely to meet those criteria in the UK.’
Katie Ghose – A Constitutional Convention for the UK: What Form Should It Take?
Dr Alan Renwick- A Constitutional Convention for the UK: What Form Should It Take?
UCL Constitution Unit, 12th November 2014
Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit
‘Now that the furore of the Scottish independence referendum has passed, the attention of politicians and media has once again turned to the dangers of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in late September, Prime Minister David Cameron stated that the ECtHR needed “sorting out”. Three examples of its judgments were used to support this point: the prisoner voting litigation; the limits on deporting suspected terrorists, including Abu Qatada; and the extension of the HRA to the “battle-fields of Helmand”, an issue which the ECtHR has not directly adjudicated upon although it has given judgments concerning events in Iraq. Shortly after, the Conservative Party released its proposals for changing Britain’s human rights laws. Central to this is altering the relationship between the UK and the ECtHR so that its judgments are no longer binding over the UK Supreme Court and that it is no longer able to order a change in UK law. As any law student will know, this would be a waste of time as neither is currently possible in our dualist legal system. The judgments of the ECtHR are only binding in international law. To support these proposals, five examples of ECtHR judgments are given: prisoner voting; artificial insemination rights for some prisoners; limits on the deportation of foreign nationals who have committed crimes; and limits on the deportation of foreign nationals generally. The fifth example is the recent judgment on whole life tariffs which was misleadingly and erroneously portrayed as a decision that murderers cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment. It is clear that the Conservative Party is not expecting to receive votes from prisoners (who have no vote anyway), foreign nationals or members of the armed forces who also enjoy the protection of human rights law on the “battle-fields of Helmand”.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 24th November 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 is a contentious and oft criticised piece of legislation, although it does have its supporters. The government and the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee have argued it has created a stable environment for longer-term government planning.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 19th November 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog
‘An exploration of Human Rights law as it developed and which draws criticism from the general public. The audience will be invited to consider what, if anything, they complain of in what is nowadays referred to as Human Rights law. The lecture will deal with topics raised and those which are more generally the subject of criticism. Time will be allowed for (structured and time limited) contributions from the audience.’
Full story
Gresham College, 5th November 2014
Source: www.gresham.ac.uk
‘My first encounter with the fantasies that underpin English public law came in the 1980s. I had just starting teaching constitutional law and was taking my first year students through Dicey: the independent rule of law; the availability of remedies to all, without fear or favour; the common law’s marvellous protection of civil liberties; how great we were, how terrible the continent; and all the rest of it. Outside the classroom, striking miners were being routinely beaten up by the police, their picketing disrupted by road blocks, their liberty eroded by mass bail conditions. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was having its marches banned and its protests inhibited by ‘no-go’ areas arbitrarily erected by the police around American bases into which it had been decided to move a new generation of nuclear weapons. Some of my students were even beaten up themselves, on a march against education cuts in London – much to their surprise given what I was teaching them.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th November 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
Leading members of the civic society call for the public to be involved in an open discussion on how we should be governed in the aftermath of the Scottish referendum
The Independent, 19th October 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Attorney General speech to London Law Expos on the UK’s long commitment to the Rule of Law.’
Attorney General’s Office, 14th October 2014
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
‘Last night’s discussion at Gray’s Inn Hall featured a panel with Dominic Grieve QC MP (formerly Attorney General), Lord Judge (formerly Lord Chief Justice), Bella Sankey (Policy Director, Liberty), Martin Howe QC (member of the Commission on a British Bill of Rights), David Anderson QC (Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation), all chaired by Shaun Ley of the BBC.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th October 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The announcement this week of a new Conservative Party plan to repeal the Human Rights Act, ‘Protecting Human Rights in the UK’, has brought to a boil a cauldron of incredulity (pictured) about the Government’s attitude towards the law. The response from human rights lawyers and advocacy groups has been swift. Liberty describes the Conservative Party plan as ‘legally illiterate’. The several ways in which that is true have already been the subject of detailed exposition. Indeed, Liberty’s response is even more accurate than it might first appear. If the Conservative Party plan is legally illiterate then it is best read as a political tactic to assure its supporters that it is the party of anti-European sentiment.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th October 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Lord Judge claims that European Court of Human Rights is “a dramatic and unconstitutional extension of judicial authority.” ‘
Daily Telegraph, 1st October 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Where a statute aimed at the prevention of money-laundering prohibited the depositing of cash sums above a specified limit save where it was “commensurate with the lawful business activities of the customer”, a customer could not claim that cash sums above the limited regularly deposited by him from his pension were deposits from his “business activities”.’
WLR Daily, 7th August 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘This week, former leaders of the Khmer Rouge face life imprisonment for crimes against humanity committed in Cambodia. In other news, the on-going conflict in Gaza sparks controversy at home, while the Lords inquiry into social media offences reaches an unexpected conclusion.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 18th August 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Human Rights analysis: What does the future hold for human rights in the UK? Stephanie Harrison QC at Garden Court Chambers warns repealing the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) would be a seriously retrograde step, that would reverberate around the world.’
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 6th August 2014
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
‘The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta next year is the right time for a fresh debate on the pros and cons of a written constitution, MPs have said.’
BBC News, 10th July 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Supreme Court, 9th July 2014
‘This address will explore the development of the law’s approach at the intersection between, on the one hand, the manifestation of religious beliefs and, on the other, the protection and promotion of secular values.
It charts the shift from the historic protection of Christian orthodoxy, through the development of anti-discrimination legislation, to the recent domestic and European legislation and case law which have provided a coherent framework for the balancing of these rights consistent with the values of the Rule of Law.’
Gresham College, 26th June 2014
Source: www.gresham.ac.uk
‘No legislative change is needed to enable the Supreme Court to deviate from rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court’s president told peers today.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 25th June 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689 has been the subject of a variety of legal challenges. The Article, which provides (in modern parlance) that: “the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament” is usually considered to be a fundamental feature of the constitution and a cornerstone of parliamentary privilege.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 21st May 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
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