This chapter discusses Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which enables a state to unilaterally derogate from some of its substantive Convention obligations in public emergencies threatening the life of the nation. The provision is therefore of great importance to the Convention’s general integrity and to the protection of human rights in situations where individuals may be especially vulnerable to the actions of the state in response to a public emergency.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
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The European Convention on Human Rights not only guaranteed certain rights, but also created an international Court. The Human Rights Act gives English judges dramatic but limited techniques for vindicating the Convention rights. This chapter explains what the judges in Strasbourg and in England have done with the techniques for control of administration that result from the Convention and the Human Rights Act. The chapter addresses the content and the structure of the Convention rights, the ways in which those rights are protected in English administrative law, particularly through the Human Rights Act 1998, and the tests of proportionality required by the Convention.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Protocols 4, 6, 7, and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Protocols 4 and 7 protect a selection of civil and political rights not covered by the main Convention text and which make up for the substantive deficiencies of the Convention when compared to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Protocols 6 and 13 concern the abolition of the death penalty in peacetime and in war, respectively.
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This chapter examines the development and nature of constitutional rights. The discussions cover the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); the campaign to incorporate the ECHR into UK law; the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA); a case study on prisoner voting Hirst v UK (No. 2); criticisms of the HRA; the European Union and human rights.
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This chapter examines various Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights in order to see how, following the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998, the subject of human rights has had an impact on UK employment law. The articles of the Convention that are considered in relation to employment law are: the right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment (Art. 3); the right not to be required to perform forced or compulsory labour (Art. 4); the right to a fair trial (Art. 6); the right to respect for private life (Art. 8); the right to freedom of thought (Art. 9); the right to freedom of expression (Art. 10); the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions (Art. 11); and the right to enjoy the substantive rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention without discrimination (Art. 14).
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One of the most fundamental aspects of any constitution are the provisions and measures that protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. In the UK, rights protection is markedly different to that in America, in chief because there is no entrenched Bill of Rights. Rights protection is dominated by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998, which sets out a number of positive rights that are actionable in the UK courts This chapter discusses the ways in which these rights are protected in the UK Constitution. It discusses the courts’ historic civil liberties approach and common law protection of rights, before then examining the development, incorporation, and application of the ECHR. The chapter also explores the way in which the various sections of the Human Rights Act 1998 work to ensure appropriate enforcement and protection of rights in UK law.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Articles 16–18 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 16 allows potentially wide-ranging interference with the political rights of aliens. Article 17 aims to prevent totalitarian or extremist groups from justifying their activities by referring to the Convention. Article 18 concerns misuse of powers or breaches of the principle of good faith, and must be applied in conjunction with another Convention’s Article(s).
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, Carla Buckley, and Heather Green
This chapter discusses Article 3 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, which imposes a positive obligation on states to secure free elections. The Court has read into this text individual rights to vote and to stand for election, reversing its technique of deriving positive obligations from the expressly articulated guarantees of individual rights contained in other Articles of the Convention. The right of prisoners to vote is included.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression. It first delineates the boundaries of protection of Article 10. It then turns to different categories of expression; specific issues relating to the press and media licensing; the standard ‘prescribed by law’; legitimate aims; the notion of ‘duties and responsibilities’ of the bearers of expression rights; and some distinct methodologies advanced by the Court to deal with defamation cases.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Article 2 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to education. Article 2 extends to all forms of education provided or permitted by the state–primary, secondary, and higher education, as well as to private schools and universities. The right to education consists of a variety of rights and freedoms for children and parents. These mostly belong to the pupil or student, but parents do have certain rights of their own under Article 2 about the way in which their child is educated.
Chapter
One of the most fundamental aspects of any constitution are the provisions and measures that protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. In the UK, rights protection is markedly different to that in America, in chief because there is no entrenched Bill of Rights. Rights protection is dominated by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998, which sets out a number of positive rights that are actionable in the UK courts. This chapter discusses the ways in which these rights are protected in the UK Constitution. It discusses the courts’ historic civil liberties approach and common law protection of rights, before then examining the development, incorporation, and application of the ECHR. The chapter also explores the way in which the various sections of the Human Rights Act 1998 work to ensure appropriate enforcement and protection of rights in UK law.
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This chapter examines human rights protection in the UK. It examines the reasons why the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) was enacted, the effects of the HRA, the principal mechanisms through which the HRA affords protection to human rights in UK law; the scope of the HRA; and the debate concerning the potential repeal, reform, or replacement of the HRA. The chapter also introduces the notion of human rights, including the practical and philosophical cases for their legal protection, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the HRA gives effect in UK law.
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This chapter is concerned with how freedoms and liberties might be protected in the UK. It begins with an attempt to distinguish between human rights and civil liberties, whilst recognizing that this is by no means a straightforward task. It then covers political and social or economic rights, the traditional means of protecting civil liberties in the UK, the European Convention on Human Rights, the incorporation of the Convention into English law, and judicial deference/discretionary areas of judgment. The Human Rights Act 1998 is reviewed from a protection of rights perspective. Finally, the question of a Bill of Rights for the UK is considered.
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Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provide an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This introductory chapter provides an overview of the main themes covered in the present volume. It first considers the political context in which the discussion of the law is to take place. It then discusses human rights and civil liberties; the meaning of rights; protection of rights and liberties within the UK Constitution; the international context of the monitoring of human rights; and the European Convention on Human Rights.
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Alisdair A. Gillespie and Siobhan Weare
This chapter examines the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and discusses some of the important issues that arise from its use. It also provides an overview of relevant articles in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The HRA 1998 is quite a short Act and its key parts are in a small number of sections. Perhaps the most important is that of s 6 which places an obligation on public authorities to act in a way compatible with the ECHR; s 7 which prescribes how it can be used to obtain a remedy in the courts. This chapter also links to the previous chapters in terms of discussing how the Act is interpreted.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to marry and to found a family, subject to a wide power on the part of states to regulate the exercise of the right. National law may regulate the form and capacity to marry, but procedural or substantive limitations must not remove the essence of the right. The right to marry does not extend to same-sex marriage and there is no right to divorce. However, transsexuals are guaranteed the right to marry persons of their now opposite sex.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, Carla Buckley, and Peter Cumper
This chapter discusses Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers forms of both religious and non-religious belief. Few articles of the Convention have generated as much controversy as Article 9, from complaints about curbs on religious dress and displays of religious symbols to conflicts over faith at the workplace. In the past two decades, the Court has made important strides in formulating its own guidelines in relation to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which addresses discrimination. Article 14 is a ‘parasitic’ provision, i.e. it only applies to ‘rights and freedoms set forth’ in the Convention and its Protocols. In other words it only prohibits discrimination within the ambit of these rights and freedoms—contrast Protocol 12 to the Convention, which is also discussed in this chapter, which prohibits discrimination generally. The importance of Article 14 is evident in the growing number of cases over the past decade, including important judgments and decisions concerning discrimination based on sexual orientation and allegations of racial discrimination.
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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
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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David Harris, Michael O’Boyle, Ed Bates, and Carla Buckley
This chapter discusses Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires the provision of effective national remedies for the breach of a Convention right. So, together with Article 35 (addressing, inter alia, exhaustion of domestic remedies), this Article is central to the cooperative relationship between the Convention and national legal systems.
