Moohan and another (Appellant) v The Lord Advocate (Respondent) – Supreme Court
Moohan and another (Appellant) v The Lord Advocate (Respondent) [2014] UKSC 67 (YouTube)
Supreme Court, 17th December 2014
Category: human rights
Regina (M) v Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary (Secretary of State for the Home Department intervening) – WLR Daily
‘Informal visits by the police officers to a registered sex offender’s home seeking entry by consent were in accordance with the law. The scheme for the protection of vulnerable persons from sex offenders as a whole was not disproportionate.’
WLR Daily, 18th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Moohan and another v Lord Advocate (Advocate General for Scotland intervening) – WLR Daily
‘The blanket ban on convicted prisoners voting in the Scottish independence referendum did not contravene prisoners’ rights under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms or involve any breach of European Union law.’
WLR Daily, 17th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Exceptional legal aid funding should not be limited to extreme cases – Court of Appeal – UK Human Rights Blog
‘The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Lord Chancellor’s Guidance on exceptional funding in civil legal aid is incompatible with the right of access to justice under Article 6 of the ECHR and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Court has further decided that this Guidance was not compatible with Article 8 of the ECHR in immigration cases; in other words, that legal aid should not be refused when applicants for entry to the UK seek to argue that refusal of entry would interfere with their right to respect for private and family life.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Access To Justice Effective Remedy And Rule Of Law: The Adequacy Of Judicial Review – No. 5 Chambers
‘The ideal judge is a supremely intelligent woman. She is especially empathetic. She has limitless expertise in every field and infinite patience. We can trust her to do right. She is perfect justice. Lets place her on a pedestal.’
Full story (PDF)
No. 5 Chambers, 16th December 2014
Source: www.no5.com
Regina (Gordon-Jones) v Secretary of State for Justice and another – WLR Daily
‘Prison Service Instruction (“PSI”) 30/2013 was unlawful in so far as it included books as earnable within the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme and excluded them from items that could be sent to or received by prisoners.’
WLR Daily, 5th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
ECHR cases won by UK government show flexibility of human rights system – The Guardian
‘Strasbourg human rights court is ready to admit it gets things wrong when presented with good arguments.’
The Guardian, 17th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Jehovah’s Witnesses, and judicial review being a last resort – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Judicial review is an excellent and flexible remedy, filling the gaps when statutory and other appeals do not provide a remedy for unlawful administrative acts or omissions.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Al Sweady Inquiry expected to clear British soldiers – Daily Telegraph
‘The five-year-long Al Sweady Inquiry is expected to say serious allegations were based on lies and speculation.’
Daily Telegraph, 16th December 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Learning difficulties assessments – High Ct judgment – Education Law Blog
‘The introduction of EHC plans for some 16-25 year olds was one of the most important changes to SEN in the Children and Families Act 2014. Under the previous regime, a special educational needs statement could not provide for a young person to attend further education or higher education. Even if the child remained in a school setting post-16, the statement would lapse (if the local authority had not already ceased to maintain it) when the young person turned 19, although the local authority could choose to maintain it until the end of that academic year. Young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities who were moving into further education, training or higher education received instead a learning difficulties assessment. This assessment would result in a written report of their educational and training needs and the provision required to meet them (“the LDA”). Any challenge to an LDA was by way of judicial review (as, in contrast to the position for challenges to the contents of SEN statements, there was no statutory right of appeal to the tribunal). That is all changing, with the introduction of EHC plans, which can continue until the young person reaches the age of 25, which can include further education provision (but still not higher education) and which can be appealed to the tribunal. Whilst EHC plans were introduced on 1 September 2014, there is a fairly lengthy transition period and so LDAs will be with us for a little longer yet.’
Education Law Blog, 16th December 2014
Source: www.education11kbw.com
Tony Nicklinson’s widow takes right-to-die case to Europe – BBC News
‘The widow of right-to-die campaigner Tony Nicklinson is taking his fight to the European Court of Human Rights.’
BBC News, 16th December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Failed London 21/7 suicide bombers lose appeal – The Guardian
‘Three men who attempted to carry out suicide bombings on the London Underground in July 2005 have failed to overturn their convictions. The European court of human rights ruled that Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Omar received a fair trial. The men, who are Somali nationals, had complained that there had been a delay in allowing them access to a solicitor.’
The Guardian, 16th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Judge orders blood transfusion for Jehovah’s Witness child – UK Human Rights Blog
‘An NHS Trust v Child B and Mr and Mrs B [2014] EWHC 3486 (Fam) – I posted earlier this year a discussion of Ian McEwan’s pellucid and moving account of the difficulties encountered by judges when steering between the rock of parental faith and the hard place of children’s best interests (The Children Act, 2014). This judgment, although handed down four months ago, has just been published, and confirms that judges may be resolute, however politely, in the face of parents’ insistence that they know what is best for their children.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th December 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Conscious Re-coupling and Succession – Nearly Legal
‘In R (Turley) v LB Wandsworth , the Claimant was the partner of the late Mr Doyle, who was the secure tenant of a property at Battersea Park Rd, London, SW8 from 1995 until his death on 17/3/2012. Mr D and Ms T had 4 children together and they lived at the property throughout, apart from a critically important period of separation between December 2010 and January 2012.
Ms T applied to succeed to the secure tenancy but the council decided that because she had not resided at the property for the 12 months immediately preceding Mr D’s death, she did not qualify to succeed. Ms T brought judicial review proceedings against that decision.’
Nearly Legal, 14th December 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
Solicitor General speech on business and human rights – Attorney General’s Office
‘On Human Rights day Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP delivered a speech on business and human rights at the Law Society Conference.’
Attorney General’s Office, 10th December 2014
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
Human rights – have they gone too far? – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
‘Type the words “have human rights …” into Google and it automatically suggests “… gone too far[?]”.
This isn’t a surprise: for many people human rights, as set out in the Human Rights Act 1998, are a byword for reckless absurdity. It is a villains’ charter which cares not a jot for law-abiding citizens.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 12th December 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Supreme Court finds third way between Strasbourg and House of Lords – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Indeterminate sentences and the inadequate funding of rehabilitation during them has posed problems since Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences hamstrung the system. The courts here and in Strasbourg have been in two minds what to do about cases where prisoners have not received the assistance they ought to have received – and hence are not, by domestic standards, ready for release.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Restrictions on books in prisons declared unlawful by the High Court – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Contrary to what some media reports would have us believe, Prison Service Instruction (“PSI”) 30/2013 did not impose an absolute ban on books in prisons. It did, however, impose severe restrictions on the possession or acquisition of books which a prisoner can treat as his or her own. The High Court has found that those restrictions could not be justified by the limited provision of prison library services and are therefore unlawful.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
