14. Introduction to Human Rights in UK Law

  • Before the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998, civil and political rights were recognized and enforced in the UK solely within the established framework of statutory and common law principles.
  • During the twentieth century, human rights principles were developed in international law by the law of treaties and by international organizations.
  • The Council of Europe drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) to guarantee basic civil and political rights, which have been expanded by a series of supplementary treaties called protocols, and provide a judicial system for their enforcement.
  • The ECHR is a treaty and, as such, could not give individual citizens directly enforceable rights until the ‘Convention rights’ were incorporated by the HRA 1998.
  • A poor record in the European Court of Human Rights, human rights problems in the English courts, and worries about the relationship between the executive and Parliament provide the background to the Act.
  • The HRA 1998 incorporates ‘Convention Rights’ into UK law.
  • The HRA 1998 creates new rules of statutory interpretation, enables citizens to test the compatibility of legislation with Convention rights, and obliges the courts to take ‘Strasbourg principles’ into account when considering human rights issues in litigation.
  • The HRA 1998 makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in any way which is incompatible with Convention rights, allows individuals to rely on breach of Convention rights in any proceedings brought against public authorities and provides some extra remedies.

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