Describe in outline the effect of the Human Rights Act, 1998 (HRA).

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INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS LIABILITY

ASSESSED ESSAY 2001/2

  1. Describe in outline the effect of the Human Rights Act, 1998(HRA).

The 1998 Act is a vitally important piece of constitutional legislation and a significant step forward in the protection of human rights within the United Kingdom. In fact, the Human Rights Act 1998(HRA) complements the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been around for 50 years and which the United Kingdom has taken seriously. Now the Convention has assumed a greater position within U.K. society, and this is to be welcomed.

The HRA came fully into force on 2 October 2000, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into our own domestic law. One of the main reasons for introducing the Act is to allow cases raising convention issues to be dealt with in U.K. courts. The Act does not confer any new rights and citizens may still petition the ECHR in Strasbourg if they have not been successful in our ‘supreme court’, the House of Lords.

The Convention can be broken down into three types of rights:

  1. Firstly there are ‘Qualified rights’ which are usually set out in the first part of the article, then ‘qualified’ in the second part. These rights may only be infringed by legislation which is:

Designed to promote a specific legitimate aim (eg national security).

        Properly regulated by the law

        ‘Necessary in a democratic society’ (Interference with this right must be                                                            

        proportionate, fulfilling a pressing social need. Proportionality is central to

        deciding whether State intrusion upon a convention right is acceptable or not.

        

  1. In articles containing ‘limited rights’ the right is set out at the beginning of the    article with limitations laid down throughout. Any limitations which are not included in the article are not permissible.
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  1. ‘Absolute rights’ are not limited or qualified in any way, and they cannot be lawfully infringed irrespective of how necessary a case might seem.

Only two rights (the rights not to be tortured and not to be enslaved) are absolute, the rest are limited or qualified.

The HRA, as acts of parliament go, is actually very short, especially given its importance, and breaks down into 22 sections, and yet this disguises the detail and its constitutional implications.  Here are some of the key ones:

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