Human Rights Act 1998

Human Rights Act 1998

Human Rights Act 1998

Question 1(a)

The Human Rights Act 1998 C.42 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on November 9, 1998, and especially came into force on October 2, 2000. [1] Its purpose is to "enhance" in UK law the rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act makes available to the UK courts a remedy for breach of a Convention right, without having to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Also totally abolished the death penalty in British law (although this was not required by the Convention in force for the United Kingdom at that time). However, Article 36 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the death penalty was abolished now.

In particular, the Act makes it unlawful for any public body to act in a way that is incompatible with the Convention, unless the wording of an Act of Parliament means that they have no choice. It also requires UK judges to take into account the decisions of the Strasbourg Court, and interpret legislation, as far as possible, so as to be compatible with the Convention. However, if it is not possible to interpret an Act of Parliament to make it compatible with the Convention, judges can not be replaced. All they can do is make a declaration of incompatibility. This statement does not affect the validity of an Act of Parliament: thus, the Human Rights Act is to maintain the principle of parliamentary sovereignty (see: Constitution of the United Kingdom). An individual can still take his case to the Strasbourg Court as a last resort.

The Human Rights Act establishes the duty of all courts in the United Kingdom to interpret the law as far as possible consistent with the rights established in the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 3 (1)). The limits on judicial creativity has been much debated, but it is now clear that the courts can interpret statutory laws in a manner detrimental to its meaning.The clear statement does not invalidate the law, but allows modification of legislation by a special expedited procedure set out in Article 10 of the Act. In August 2006, 20 statements were made, of which 6 were reversed on appeal.

Conclusion

The Human Rights Act applies to all public bodies in the UK, including central government, local authorities and bodies exercising public functions. However, Parliament does not include acting in its legislative capacity.

Although the law states that it applies to public bodies of the Human Rights Act has had a growing influence in private law disputes between citizens has led some scholars to assert that has a horizontal as well as a vertical effect (as in disputes between the State and citizens). This is because section 6 (1) of the Human Rights Act defines the courts as public bodies means that their statements must comply with human rights obligations, except in cases of declarations of ...