Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Murray v Ministry of Defence [1988] 1 WLR 692. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
Chapter
Murray v Ministry of Defence [1988] 1 WLR 692
Chapter
10. Mental Health Law
A. M. Farrell and E. S. Dove
This chapter explores the law in relation to mental health, and the concepts and principles engaged in its justification and critique. It compares the statutory frameworks across the UK jurisdictions, focusing first on the involuntary treatment of mental health problems, the legal criteria for when these powers may be used, and limitations or safeguards placed on those powers. It then discusses the legal rules which allow decisions to be taken on behalf of adults found to lack capacity to make decisions for themselves, discussing recent trends in case law relating to capacity and best interests. This chapter also considers relevant human rights instruments and their impact on the legal framework, focusing on Article 5 ECHR (the right to liberty), its interpretation in UK law, the impact of the UK Supreme Court Cheshire West (2014) case, and the relationship between mental health law and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The chapter concludes by discussing current programmes of reform in the area.
Chapter
7. Due Process, Liberty and Security of the Person, and the Right to a Fair Trial
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers due process, liberty, and security of the person, and the right to a fair trial, including articles 5, 6, and 7 of the ECHR and their application to matters such as prison discipline, police powers, and the fight against terrorism.
Chapter
8. Remands before trial
The impact on the liberty of a defendant is an important issue and this chapter analyses remand decisions, scrutinizing the justifications for taking away liberty before trial. It also considers the law relating to remands as well as the treatment of unconvicted defendants, the treatment of victims and potential victims, procedural justice and remand decisions, and, finally, equal treatment in remand decisions. The principal focus in this chapter is on the court’s decision whether to remand on bail or in custody between first appearance and trial. Also discussed are the issues of principle raised by the law and practice.
Chapter
8. Article 5: The Right to Liberty and Security of the Person
David Harris, Michael O’boyle, Ed Bates, Carla M. Buckley, KreŠimir Kamber, ZoË Bryanston-Cross, Peter Cumper, and Heather Green
This chapter discusses Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the ‘right to liberty and security of person’. The notion of ‘liberty’ here covers the physical liberty of the person, which the Court views alongside Articles 2, 3, and 4 as ‘in the first rank of the fundamental rights that protect the physical security of an individual’. All kinds of detention by the state are controlled by Article 5, including detention in the criminal process, detention of the mentally disabled, and detention prior to extradition or deportation.
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19. Human rights in the UK: public order and police powers
This chapter examines the rights contained within Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of expression), Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly), Article 5 (the right to liberty), and Article 8 (the right to a private and family life). It considers the domestic application of these rights as well as the various cases in which they have been raised. In doing this, the chapter explores the balance that must be struck between certain rights on the one hand and competing interests and needs on the other. With this in mind, it focuses on two areas: first, the freedoms of association and assembly, balanced against the need to ensure public order; and secondly, the freedom of liberty and right to a fair trial, against the need to ensure that the police can carry out their functions and responsibilities appropriately.
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9. The Right to Private Life
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the right to private and family life, including the scope of privacy and private and family life, protection in domestic law and under the ECHR, privacy and press freedom, and surveillance powers and privacy.
Book
Dr Steve Foster
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. After an introduction, it covers: the nature and enforcement of human rights and civil liberties; the European Convention on Human Rights; the Human Rights Act 1998; the right to life; freedom from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment; due process, liberty and security of the person, and the right to a fair trial; prisoners’ rights; the right to private life; freedom of expression; and freedom of religion, association, and peaceful assembly.
Chapter
1. Exam Skills for Success in Human Rights and Civil Liberties Law
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter briefly sets out the book’s purpose, which is to assist students preparing for an examination in human rights and civil liberties, and also offers some suggestions regarding coursework and taking exams.
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5. The Right to Life
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the right to life, including its importance, the duty of the state to preserve it, and the situations where life can be taken.
Chapter
6. Freedom from Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the area of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, including the meaning of those terms and the application of this protection in the context of prisoners’ rights and deportation.
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11. Article 5: right to liberty and security
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter discusses Article 5 the right to liberty. This is liberty in its classic sense, addressing the physical liberty of a person (as opposed to broader concepts of liberty, such as the sense of personal autonomy and the lack of individual or social subordination). Article 5 deals with restrictions of liberty like arrest and detention by the police, imprisonment after conviction, detention of the mentally ill in hospitals, and the detention of foreigners in the context of immigration and asylum. It defines and restricts the purposes for which a person can be deprived of his or her liberty and, importantly, requires that people have access to judicial supervision so that the lawfulness of any deprivation of liberty can be examined and, if necessary, remedied. The overriding guarantee of Article 5 is the right not to be detained in an arbitrary manner.
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8. Intellectual property rights and the information society
This chapter examines intellectual property rights (IPRs) in relation to the information society. The discussion begins with an overview of IPRs involving copyright, patents, trade marks, and the database right, and then considers IPRs and the process of digitization within the framework of cyberlaw. It mentions the criticism received for overprotecting content or systems in the information society and discusses the idea of an over-reliance on models developed for a previous age and for different challenges in dealing with the information economy and society. It concludes by highlighting the tension between the information society and the intellectual property industry in terms of what each wants and expects: liberty, free use of content, and unfettered free expression for the former; and protection, control over use, and abuse and reward for the latter.
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21. Applications: prisoners’ rights
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter considers the application of Convention rights in the field of prisoners’ rights; the impact of Convention rights on prisoners in the UK is considered. Prisoners remain within the protection of the European Convention on Human Rights, though the application of these rights will take their position into account. Prisoners’ rights include not only rights to the non-arbitrary loss of liberty (Article 5) and rights to fair procedures (Articles 5 and 6), but also not to be disproportionately denied the rights and freedoms in Articles 8–11. Imprisonment deprives individuals of their liberty and, therefore, is a public function for which the state is responsible under the Convention. The controversy over prisoners’ right to vote is discussed in Chapter 25.
