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Too attentive to our duty: the fundamental conflict underlying human rights protection in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2018

Benedict Douglas
Benedict Douglas*
Affiliation:
Durham Law School, Durham University, Durham, UK
*
*Author email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Are we defined by the choices we make or the duties we owe? This paper argues that there is a conflict between the fundamental conception of the individual as possessing the capacity to choose how to live, which has been held to be the foundation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the understanding of the individual as a bearer of duties which has long underpinned the UK Constitution. Through case law analysis, it is shown that the tension between these two understandings of the individual underlies the troubled acceptance of the Human Rights Act 1998, and influences the UK judiciary's substantive interpretations of the Convention rights. It is ultimately argued that for the Convention rights to be fully accepted in the UK, the evolution from a duty to a choice-based understanding of the individual, which was artificially accelerated by the Human Rights Act, must be more widely accepted by society and the courts.

Keywords

Human Rights Act 1998constitutional lawEuropean Convention on Human Rights
Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 360 - 378
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Legal Scholars 2018 

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Footnotes

†

I am extremely grateful for the help and advice of Chris Castell, Emma Cave, Aoife O'Donoghue, Murat Erdoğan, Jack Hepworth, William Lucy, Roger Masterman, Matthew Nicholson, Shaun Pattinson, Rachel Scarfe and Marion Tait who read drafts of this paper; to Amanda Taylor Aiken whose conversation started the train of thought that led to this article; and to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and encouragement. Any errors are my own.

References

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143 Ibid, at 803.

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155 Ibid, at 258 (emphasis added).

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158 Above n 137.

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161 Ibid, at [54].

162 Ibid, at [110]–[111].

163 Ibid, at [23] (Lord Bingham), [61] (Lord Steyn) and [100] (Lord Hope).

164 Ibid, at [23] and [61].

165 Ibid, at [18].

166 Ibid, at [100].

167 Pretty, above n 3, at [39].

168 Above text to n 24; and ibid, at [65].

169 Pretty, above n 3, at [61].

170 Ibid, at [62].

171 Ibid, at [62] and [67].

172 Ibid, at [65].

173 Purdy, above n 8, at [53]–[54] and [56].

174 Ibid, at [32], [38], [60], [61], [71] and [82].

175 Ibid, at [38], citing Pretty, above n 3, [65].

176 Nicklinson, above n 9.

177 Ibid, at [95]; see also [96]–[98].

178 Ibid, at [208].

179 Ibid, at [208].

180 Ibid, at [263]; cf Countryside Alliance, above n 60, at [10]–[15] and [138]–[139].

181 Nicklinson, above n 9, at [160].

182 Ibid, at [171] (Lord Mance), [228]–[229] (Lord Sumption) and [311] (Lady Hale).

183 Ibid, at [199] (Lord Wilson) and [209] (Lord Mance).

184 Ibid, at [113] (Lord Neuberger), [188] (Lord Mance), [201] (Lord Wilson), [234] (Lord Sumption), [267] (Lord Hughes), [290] (Lord Clarke) and [297]–[298] (Lord Reed).

185 Re JR38 [2015] UKSC 42.

186 [2004] EWHC 1879 (Admin); and [2005] EWCA Civ 1003.

187 Re JR38, above n 185, at [86]–[88].

188 Ibid, at [100].

189 Ibid, at [97]–[98].

190 Ibid, at [99]–[100].

191 Ibid, at [37], quoting PG v UK (2001) 46 EHRR 1272 at [56].

192 Re JR38, above n 185, at [38], [41] and [54], [56]–[57] and [64].

193 Ibid, at [36].

194 Ibid, at [50], [53] and [55].

195 Ibid, at [63] and [78]–[80].

196 Ibid, at [105] and [110].

197 Ibid, at [110].

198 Ibid, at [113]–[115].

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201 Burke, High Court, above n 186, at [130], [166] and [178].

202 Ibid, at esp [73]–[75] and [166] and Pattinson, above n 199, p 259.

203 Burke, High Court, above n 186, at [80].

204 Ibid.

205 Burke, Court of Appeal, above n 186, at [39]–[40]; and Pattinson, above n 199, pp 258 and 260.

206 Pattinson, above n 199, p 260.

207 For example Re G (Children) [2012] EWCA Civ 1233 at [60], [80] and [82] (Munby LJ giving judgment for the court); A v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 56 at [81] (Lord Nicholls), cf [191] (Lord Walker); and Ghaidan v Mendoza [2004] UKHL 30 at [17] (Lord Nicholls) and [132] (Lady Hale).

208 Above n 131.