All Civil liberties articles – Page 8
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NewsFiji activist sentenced for Law Society Charity ‘contempt’
Akuila Yabaki has been sentenced to a suspended prison term for reprinting part of a Law Society Charity report which criticised Fiji’s judiciary.
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NewsThousands of UK citizens ‘detained unlawfully’
Tens of thousands of vulnerable people are being detained unlawfully due to the complexity of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), lawyers say.
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Opinion
In breach of Magna Carta?
Clause 29 of Magna Carta is still in force. You can look it up on www.legislation.gov.uk. The final sentence reads: ‘We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.’ Does that not mean that the charging of court and tribunal ...
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NewsMother loses Euro court compensation fight
Mike Pemberton acted for Lorraine Allen, who was imprisoned after wrongly being convicted of the manslaughter of her son.
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News
Whole life imprisonment breaches human rights, rules Strasbourg
The whole life imprisonment of murderer Jeremy Bamber and two other killers breaches their rights under article 3 of the European Convention, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case’s final judgment today. The three killers are subject to whole life orders, meaning they cannot be released other ...
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OpinionWhy the Magna Carta still has relevance today
What shall we be doing in the summer of 2015? A general election is scheduled for 7 May. If Theresa May gets her way, we shall be voting on whether to denounce a list of rights and liberties that will have been binding on our rulers for little more than ...
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News
Profession denounces posthumous Magnitsky trial
Lawyers worldwide have denounced the posthumous trial of Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky (pictured) who was yesterday found guilty of tax evasion in a Moscow trial that began following his death in prison four years ago. Magnitsky died in a pre-trial detention after accusing Russian police of complicity in a $230m ...
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Law Report
Discrimination
Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation – Defendant running bed and breakfast facility at her home – Defendant having strong religious beliefs – Claimant gay couple reserving room with defendant – Defendant refusing to allow claimants to share bedroom
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News
Political storm over Strasbourg whole life ruling
Ministers have condemned the decision by Strasbourg that whole life sentences breach human rights, suggesting that the role of the European Court of Human Rights should be ‘curtailed’. The attack follows the final ruling of the court yesterday that whole life imprisonment of murderer Jeremy Bamber and two others breached ...
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News
Turkish lawyers harassed, arrested and detained
Dozens of Turkish lawyers arrested 18 months ago have been subjected to ‘excessively punitive’ treatment by state authorities, with 15 of the 46 still detained in prison, an international delegation of lawyers reports. The trial of the 46 has been consistently delayed, with three-month gaps between one-day hearings, ‘causing extreme ...
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Feature
Increased use of Tasers is a potential breach of human rights legislation
The recent Law Society public debate about the use of Tasers and human rights was well timed as there has been a dramatic increase in the use of Tasers across the country, especially on the vulnerable. This needs to be addressed. In Kent, 50% of Taser use is on those ...
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News
Marching for Legal Pride
The legal profession came out in force to celebrate Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) diversity for Legal Pride 2013. Legal bodies marched in London under the banner ‘Equality under the Law’ to promote LGBT rights. Members of the Law Society, Bar Council, Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Interlaw Diversity ...
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News
Law Commission looks at extending hate crime law
The Law Commission is consulting on extending the law on hate crimes to cover sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. Commissioner leading the project, Professor David Ormerod QC, said: ‘We will look at options for reform that would recognise that the criminal law should protect people who are targeted because ...
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OpinionVictim surcharge: unintended consequences
I have always felt uneasy about the victim surcharge
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News
Landmark judgment sets limit on religious freedoms
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judges have rejected appeals lodged by three British Christians
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News
Press royal charter looks like a winner for lawyers
When one door closes, another opens. So, if your legal aid or PI business looks a little shaky at the moment, have you considered opportunities in media law? The Recognition Panel whose royal charter was approved today in the latest tortuous step of the Leveson process opens up plenty of ...
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News
Human rights test case call for sharia law
A ‘parallel’ system of justice based on Islamic law should face a test case under the Human Rights Act, a group campaigning against religious laws said this week. The One Law for All Campaign called for a case to be initiated to determine whether Muslim arbitration tribunals and sharia councils ...
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News
Convention on Modern Liberty debate
The need for a British human rights act was one of the few issues of contention to surface at the nationwide Convention on Modern Liberty held last Saturday, writes Michael Cross. Dominic Grieve QC MP (pictured), shadow attorney general, said a future Conservative government would introduce such an act, which ...
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News
Cry freedom of information
The eyes of the news media have been elsewhere, but the House of Commons justice committee has just restated an important constitutional principle: freedom of information is a good thing. A long-awaited post-legislative review of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concludes: ‘We do not believe that there has been ...