The “duty†on the State to conduct an investigation into events of significant public concern or interest is not in fact a single duty , but incorporates some duties , and a wide range of powers , derived from common law , statutory and international law sources , which can often overlap in the same case. This is one of two papers by Henrietta Hill QC and Adam Straw presented as part of PLP’s ‘By Public Demand: Inquiries , Investigations and the Law confercne in April 2016.…
12 May 2016
Sir Henry Brooke’s opening address to our Public Law for Private Law Practitioners conference , 4 March 2014. The address looks at how Public Law has evolved and diversified away from private law in recent decades.…
20 Mar 2014
The current Government was elected on a promise to cut £12 billion from the social security budget. Detailed plans were announced post-election in the July 2015 Summer Budget and legislation has been published in the form of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill (‘the Bill’). This paper considers whether proposals , as currently drafted , are lawful and specifically whether current measures in the Bill comply with domestic and international law.…
6 Nov 2015
These are the notes to a seminar on the role of the Ombudsman , looking particularly at the PHSO.…
10 Dec 2015
This paper presentation will cover which acts of Government have been challenged , changes to Government policy and its stance during and after litigation. It will also look at the feasibility studies , the current Supreme Court case and what the new decision means.…
The Government sometimes adds a provision to a Bill which enables the Government to repeal or amend it after it has become an Act of Parliament. The provision enables the amendment of primary legislation using delegated (or secondary) legislation. Such provisions are known as ‘Henry VIII clauses’. To students of ‘1066 and All That’ Henry VIII was a dangerous tyrant and ‘a bad thing’. In 1539 he persuaded a supine parliament to pass the Statute of Proclamations giving the king’s decisions the same force as acts of the legislature; hence the name Henry VIII clause.…
There are no enforceable economic , social or cultural rights in the UK. Although the UK has ratified ICESCR it has not been incorporated into domestic law and the ECHR is of course primarily concerned with civil and political rights. Therefore it is generally uncontroversial that there are no rights to state benefits or social security in the UK. The attempts that have been made to infer such rights under ECHR have largely failed.…
This paper surveys the significant decisions and developments in discrimination cases this year that are likely to be of most relevance for public law claims.…
22 Oct 2015
There have been lots of exciting things going on in the courts recently regarding the constitution and fundamental rights. Michael Fordham QC has delivered an overview of these changes in his earlier talk. This seminar aims to fill in the detail. It outlines the recent changes and argues that there is as yet no certainty that a repeal of the HRA will make no difference. It gives suggestions for what may be done now to try to enhance the protection of fundamental rights by the common law and to safeguard your cases from the potential repeal of the Human Rights Act.…
The number and diversity of JR cases is now such that a review of the year can only hope to cover a small sample of the Administrative Court’s workload. The selection of cases below (from September 2014 to July 2015) necessarily reflects our personal choice , and no doubt there are many others that could have been included. We have each picked four cases. They are summarised below in chronological order.…
This paper considers how to use the protective and investigative obligations under Articles 2 and 3 in private law claims to secure accountability where public authorities fail to protect people in their care , fail to investigate and protect people against risks posed by other private individuals , or fail to investigate violations of the state’s duty to protect people from death and serious harm.…
10 Jul 2015