Michael Foran: Interpretation after the Human Rights Act? The Principle of Legality and the Rule of Law – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘Last week Liz Truss’s cabinet decided to shelve the proposed British Bill of Rights. Quite a lot has been said about the Bill since it was announced and many have welcomed the quiet demise of what was perceived by some to be a dangerous inroad into our human rights protection. Others have suggested that the Bill would never have been able to make good on the hopes of those who wish to see the U.K. unshackled from the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg Court. Rajiv Shah, a former special advisor in the Ministry of Justice and the No 10 Policy Unit, argues that the Bill was presented as containing a lot of red meat – to encourage ECHR sceptics and dismay ECHR advocates – while in reality being little more than a vegan steak. On reflection this is a fairly accurate description. One area of concern, however, was the potential repeal of s. 3 of the Human Rights Act.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 12th September 2022

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Poorly drafted long residence rules lead to avoidable litigation – EIN Blog

Posted August 22nd, 2022 in appeals, drafting, immigration, news, statutory interpretation, time limits, visas by tracey

‘R (Iyieke) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1147 (11 August 2022). The Court of Appeal has held that Mr Victormills Onyekachi Iyieke, who had applied for indefinite leave to remain (“ILR”) on the ground of 10 years’ continuous lawful residence in the UK and who had a period of overstaying in 2014 “book-ended” by periods of leave was not able to rely on paragraph 276B(v) of the Immigration Rules. It is notable that current overstaying and previous overstaying between periods of leave are referred to as “open-ended” and “book-ended” overstaying. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal observed that under paragraph 276B(v) a period of overstaying between periods of leave was disregarded where the previous application was made before 24 November 2016 and within 28 days of the expiry of leave. Mr Iyieke had made an application within 28 days of the expiry of his leave in 2014—that was unsuccessful and he was later granted temporary admission on other grounds. In paragraph 276B(v), “the previous application” could not refer to any unsuccessful application made in a period of book-ended leave before 24 November 2016. The reference was to “the” previous application and not “a” previous application and “the” previous application had to have resulted in a period of leave. Mr Iyieke had a post-study work visa which expired on 9 August 2014. He applied for leave to remain on 2 September 2014, which was within 24 days of the expiry of his post-study work visa.’

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EIN Blog, 18th August 2022

Source: www.ein.org.uk

Lord Burrows, Sir Christopher Staughton Memorial Lecture 2022 – Supreme Court

Posted August 19th, 2022 in judges, speeches, statutory interpretation, Supreme Court by tracey

‘Lord Burrows, Sir Christopher Staughton Memorial Lecture 2022’

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Supreme Court, 15th August 2022

Source: www.supremecourt.uk

Deportation: Supreme Court revisits Unduly Harsh and Very Compelling Circumstances Tests – EIN Blog

‘On 20 July 2022, the UK Supreme Court gave its judgment in the three joined appeals of HA (Iraq), RA (Iraq) and AA (Nigeria) [2022] UKSC 22. The full judgment can be found here. These were all deportation appeals decided by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal found in favour of the three individuals and the Secretary of State, through the Home Office, appealed to the Supreme Court.’

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EIN Blog, 3rd August 2022

Source: www.ein.org.uk

New Judgment: R v Luckhurst [2020] UKSC 23 – UKSC Blog

‘This case concerns whether the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) permits a variation to a restraint order to cover reasonable legal expenses in respect of civil proceedings founded on the same or similar allegations or facts as those giving rise to the making of the restraint order.’

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UKSC Blog, 20th July 2022

Source: ukscblog.com

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act can be “read down” to accord with Convention family rights – UK Human Rights Blog

‘This poignant case tells a sad story, but an instructive one in terms of human rights and the ability of courts to interpret statutes in accordance with these rights under Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 19th July 2022

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Stefan Theil: Henry VIII on steroids – executive overreach in the Bill of Rights Bill – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘Constitutional bombshells do not come along very often, most change is incremental and piecemeal – or at least that was the conventional wisdom that prevailed on the UK constitution for many decades. More recently, it appears that scarcely a month passes without suggestions, discussions, proposals, or enactments of far-reaching constitutional reforms – whether through government consultations, changes to the ministerial code, the political and legal constitution and devolution, or bills specifically introduced into Parliament to break international law.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 6th July 2022

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Clause Seven of the Bill of Rights Bill: Diluting Rights Protection and Undermining Parliamentary Democracy – Oxford Human Rights Hub

‘If enacted in its present form the Bill of Rights Bill would compromise judicial independence, dilute ECHR rights protection, and undermine the principle of parliamentary democracy that it purports to protect. The Bill seeks to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) in full and replace it with legislation which, according to a Government press release, will “ensure courts cannot interpret laws in ways that were never intended by Parliament”. It also seeks to inject a “healthy dose of common sense” into courts’ protection of Convention rights.’

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Oxford Human Rights Hub, 27th June 2022

Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

The Whole Life Order: Have the Floodgates Been Opened? – Pump Court Chambers

‘Events that occurred in March 2021 instituted a widespread heated debate both domestically and internationally as a consequence of the murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of police officer Wayne Couzens. It sparked a global women’s safety movement and erosion of public confidence in police protection, alongside sparking conversations around inequality, misogyny and victim-blaming. Further, it was also a rare case of a whole life order being handed down for a single murder. Up there in the list of the most famous names in criminal history with Myra Hindley, Peter Sutcliffe and Rosemary West, now stands the name Wayne Couzens. Putting aside societal, political and media considerations regarding this sentence, can interpretation of the statute and of sentencing provisions in this case be seen as opening the floodgates?’

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Pump Court Chambers, 10th May 2022

Source: www.pumpcourtchambers.com

Supreme Court to issue ruling next week on lawfulness of voter ID pilot schemes – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Supreme Court will next week (27 April) issue its ruling on whether the voter identification (“ID”) pilot schemes that were implemented in the May 2019 local government elections were lawful.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 21st April 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

What’s the use of a property guardian? – Gatehouse Chambers

Posted April 8th, 2022 in appeals, chambers articles, housing, news, rent, statutory interpretation by sally

‘“What’s the use of a property guardian?” While that might be a potentially facetious question in the mouth of a person who has no experience of property guardians, it was also the question which was decided recently in the interesting Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decision of Martin Rodger QC, Deputy Chamber President, in Global 100 Limited v Carlos Jimenez & Ors [2022] UKUT 50 (LC). In that case, however, the question was not facetious but, rather, a serious legal one which determined the outcome of the dispute.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 30th March 2022

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk

Two new cases where parents try to stop adoptions – Transparency Project

‘This post is about two recent judgments with a similar theme – attempts by birth parents to stop an adoption going through, on the legal basis of caselaw interpretation of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 that their circumstances had changed and that the original welfare decision and plan therefore need reconsidering. One, Re D, is a decision on leave to apply to revoke placement orders and the second, Re A and B, is a decision on opposing adoption orders. This means that the children in Re D are not yet living with prospective adopters, although the children in Re A and B are.’

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Transparency Project, 20th March 2022

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

Planning Court judge issues ruling on prior approval and upward extensions – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 10th, 2022 in local government, news, planning, statutory interpretation by sally

‘The High Court has ruled against claimants in three cases involving how widely a local authority can consider planning matters when dealing with a request for prior approval under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 10th February 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

British Citizenship: Precious, Costly, and Precarious – Oxford Human Rights Hub

Posted February 10th, 2022 in bills, citizenship, EC law, fees, news, statutory interpretation, treaties by sally

‘Citizenship still matters; its absence denotes precarity. As Covid19 travel restrictions reminded us, at its international core lies the right to enter one’s country and reside therein. Domestically, in most jurisdictions, citizenship serves as an eligibility criterion for electoral participation; excluded non-citizens have limited capacity to advance their rights through the political process.’

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Oxford Human Rights Hub, 8th February 2022

Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

Donnchadh Greene and Gabriel Tan: Statutory Interpretation and Citizenship: D4 v SSHD and PRCBC v SSHD – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘This piece considers two recent decisions – one by the Court of Appeal (“CA”): D4 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 33, and the other by the Supreme Court (“SC”): R (The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKSC 3 (“PRCBC”). At a general level, the cases raised similar issues: both involved challenges to delegation legislation on grounds that they were ultra vires; both related to citizenship – D4 about its deprivation, PRCBC about its conferral. This piece seeks to draw some threads from the two cases about statutory interpretation and the common law in the context of citizenship.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th February 2022

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

New Judgment: Public Prosecutors Office of the Athens Court of Appeal v O’Connor [2022] UKSC 4 – UKSC Blog

‘The Respondent was ordered to be extradited to Greece for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution against him. On that day, the Respondent’s solicitor stated orally in court that an appeal would be lodged against the extradition order, and on 16 December 2015, the notice of application for leave to appeal was filed with the Court. However, due to an oversight, the solicitor failed to serve the notice on the Crown Solicitor’s Office (on behalf of Greece) until about three weeks later.’

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UKSC Blog, 3rd February 2022

Source: ukscblog.com

Company landlords and signing notices – Nearly Legal

‘Northwood (Solihull) Ltd v Fearn & Ors (2022) EWCA Civ 40. This was a second appeal on the issue of the signing of tenancy deposit prescribed information certificates and section 8 notices by company landlords. The first appeal (our note here) had held that while signing a section 8 notice did not have to comply with the requirements of section 44 Companies Act, the signing of the prescribed information certificate did, so that it could not be signed by a sole director.’

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Nearly Legal, 26th January 2022

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Supreme Court hands down landmark ruling on capacity to consent to sexual relations – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Supreme Court has upheld a Court of Appeal decision that to have capacity to have sexual relations with another person, a person needs be aware that their partner must have the ability to consent to the sexual activity and must in fact consent before and throughout the sexual activity.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th November 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Surely, I’m Insured?! Is a defendant insured only when sure the insurer will pay out? – Gatehouse Chambers

‘The Claimant was employed as a labourer by the Second Defendant (‘YKS’) who, in turn, were engaged by the Appellant Fourth Defendant (‘Buttar’) as an independent brickwork contractor. The First and Third Defendants were individuals who controlled the Second and Fourth Defendants. The Claimant suffered catastrophic injuries at a building site and brought proceedings in negligence against, inter alia, YKS, as his employer; and Buttar, as the main contractor on site. The Court recognised that there was a compelling need for an interim payment to fund an appropriate rehabilitation package for the Claimant if he was able to satisfy the legal requirements for obtaining the same.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 28th October 2021

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk

Michael Foran: Parliamentary Sovereignty and the Politics of Law-making – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘Parliamentary sovereignty has traditionally been understood to mean that Parliament is free to enact legislation on any area of law that it chooses, and that Acts of the U.K. Parliament take precedence over subordinate legislation, regulation, or common law rule. Understood this way, parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional principle that is couched explicitly in legal terms: it is a legal principle with legal effect, speaking to other legal entities within our constitutional order regarding how they are to exercise their legal functions in light of legislation passed by Parliament. In essence, it is a doctrine of legislative supremacy which honours Parliament’s constitutional role by according its enactments their due authority. On this view, no discernible distinction exists between parliamentary sovereignty and Parliament’s law-making powers because sovereignty describes the scope and weight of those very powers.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th October 2021

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org