‘Information commissioner raises concern and campaigners threaten legal action over security firm’s use of body-worn cameras.’
The Guardian, 24th January 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘In Rahmatullah (No 2) v MOD; Mohammed v MOD [2017] UKSC 1, the Supreme Court gave a further important judgment in the litany of cases arising out of the UK’s intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Court held unanimously that the doctrine of Crown act of state defeated claims brought by non UK citizens seeking to sue the Government in the English courts in respect of alleged torts committed abroad.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 24th January 2017
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Anonymous and pseudonymous publication has a long history. It may now be the exception in literary and specialist journalism, but at the start of the 19th century it was pretty much the rule – to the extent that France in 1850 legislated to forbid the publication of unsigned articles on philosophical, political and religious subjects. A new book by Eric Barendt, Anonymous Speech: Literature, Law and Politics (Hart, £25), traces the contemporaneous voluntary abandonment of anonymity in England and the often pompous arguments that accompanied it. The fact was that journals’ recruitment of well-known writers – Thackeray, Dickens – was starting to put a premium on names. So when the Fortnightly Review started up in 1865, it announced that all its articles would be signed and free of editorial pressure. By contrast, from its foundation in 1913 the New Statesman anonymised its contributors, though the editor, having explained that this was necessary in order to establish a common style and tone, couldn’t resist announcing that Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw would be writing for it. In 1925 the Spectator, after not quite a hundred years of unsigned articles, abandoned anonymity, and the New Statesman followed. Articles in the TLS remained anonymous until 1974, and obituaries in the Times and Telegraph are unsigned to this day. So are the entirety of the Economist and the bulk of Private Eye.’
London Review of Books, 19th January 2017
Source: www.lrb.co.uk
‘The government downplayed the risk of human rights abuses in one of the world’s most repressive regimes in an attempt to reduce asylum seeker numbers despite doubts from its own experts, internal documents have revealed.’
The Guardian, 22nd January 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘This blog is the first covering the series of three important judgments given on Tuesday by the Supreme Court on issues arising out of the War on Terror and the United Kingdom’s interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Belhaj and another v Straw and others) and Rahmatullah (No 1) v Ministry of Defence and another [2017] UKSC 3 involved the alleged complicity of United Kingdom officials in allegedly tortious acts of the UK or other states overseas. The torts alleged include unlawful detention and rendition, torture or cruel and inhuman treatment and assault.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 20th January 2017
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In a week when Supreme Court watchers expected to dissect the Brexit judgment, the Justices instead handed down their long awaited decision in the joined cases of Belhaj & Ors v Straw & Ors; Rahmatullah (No 1) v Ministry of Defence & Ors [2017] UKSC 3. These appeals both involved unsuccessful attempts to strike out claims based on allegations of UK complicity in international wrongs – including torture and rendition and arbitrary detention – on the basis that our domestic courts should not exercise their jurisdiction in either case.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 19th January 2017
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘A British triple-killer has lost a challenge at the European Court of Human Rights against his whole-life prison term.’
BBC News, 17th January 2017
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court is expected this week to make it more difficult for former Taliban fighters to sue the Government over their detention in Afghanistan.’
Daily Telegraph, 14th January 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A senior druid has won the right to take a charity to court over “pay-to-pray” parking charges for the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, claiming it should be free.’
Daily Telegraph, 10th January 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A terminally ill man who fears becoming “entombed” in his body has asked judges to let him die in the first case of its kind in three years.’
Daily Telegraph, 6th January 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Police chiefs have issued an apology and paid compensation of more than £20,000 to the family of a woman who was a victim of domestic violence and died following a violent attack.’
The Guardian, 5th January 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has strongly criticised a council and a police force for serious breaches of the Human Rights Act, after two children were retained in care despite their mother not being charged with an offence following her arrest.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th January 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘David Bedingfield, barrister of 4 Paper Buildings, considers the arguments in a debate of vital importance to family lawyers.’
Family Law Week, 4th January 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘This post is my Christmas gift to land law students everywhere in the UK. It is a discussion of the very important Court of Appeal decision in Watts v Stewart [2016] EWCA Civ 1247, which concerned whether charitable providers of accommodation (in this case, almshouses, but, in principle, the issue in the case is broader) are exceptions to the Street v Mountford mantra that exclusive possession for a fixed term at a rent = tenancy.’
Nearly Legal, 29th December 2016
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘“General and indiscriminate retention” of emails and electronic communications by governments is illegal, the EU’s highest court has ruled, in a judgment that could trigger challenges against the UK’s new Investigatory Powers Act – the so-called snooper’s charter.’
The Guardian, 21st December 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Michael Jones of Deans Court Chambers examines recent important decisions concerning the recognition of adoption orders made abroad.’
Family Law Week, 16th December 2016
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘In early December, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was forced to deny reports that he’d told a group of ambassadors he was personally in favour of the free movement of people across the European Union.’
The Independent, 19th December 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v Charity Commission was striking from many points of view. Mr Kennedy was a journalist frustrated by the way the Commission handled his allegations concerning George Galloway MP’s controversial Iraq charity, the Miriam Appeal. He applied for disclosure of documents under the Freedom of Information Act, arguing that a prohibition from disclosure under s 32 should be interpreted compatibly with Article 10, as required by s 3 of the HRA. However, the Supreme Court declined to follow the recent ECtHR case law, holding that Article 10 did not encompass a right of access to information, deprecating the parties’ failure to rely upon the common law right to information and disagreeing over the question of whether proportionality should replace Wednesbury unreasonableness: see my previous post on this here.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th December 2016
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Corporations are now widely seen as having responsibilities in regard to human rights abuses. This was thrown starkly onto the front pages recently when a number of high profile UK companies, including M&S and Asos, were caught up in allegations of child refugees from Syria working in very poor conditions for clothing suppliers based in Turkey. They are just one of many instances around the world where corporations have been shown to be involved in human rights abuses.’
OUP Blog, 19th December 2016
Source: www.blog.oup.com
‘A transgender teenager who used human rights law to cut his parents out of his life has won thousands of pounds in compensation after a council official let slip his new identity.’
Daily Telegraph, 18th December 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2025