Weekend reading ~ a "conference" of speeches

3rd December - Updated with further links

Whether or not there is a collective noun for "speeches" - (perhaps a "conference" of speeches?) - there have been many in recent days. 

Lord Judge - former Lord Chief Justice - Bar Council Annual Law Reform Lecture 21st November - The evidence of child victims: the next stage

Speeches by Supreme Court Justices:

• Lord Carnwath gives the Garner Lecture 2013 (PDF)
  The Common laws of the environment – at home and abroad
  19 November 2013
• Lord Carnwath gives the ALBA Annual Lecture (PDF)
  From judicial outrage to sliding scales – where next for Wednesbury?
  12 November 2013
• Lord Neuberger at the ARBRIX Annual Conference, London (PDF)
  Address to property arbitrators
  12 November 2013
• Lord Clarke gives the Bracton Lecture at the University of Exeter Law School (PDF)
  What shall we do about fraudluent claims?
  8 November 2013
• Lord Sumption at the Denning Society (PDF)
  The Disunited Kingdom: England, Ireland and Scotland
  5 November 2013

Scotland ~ Independence White Paper

Sgurr na Banachdich, Skye - 3166 ft

On 18th September 2014 (the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn - see post of 26th January 2012), a referendum will be held in Scotland to enable the Scottish electorate to decide whether to proceed to an independent Scotland.  If there is a YES vote then the aim is to create an independent Scotland from 24th March 2016 (BBC - Proposed date for Scottish independence named).  24th March 1603 was the date of the Union of the separate Crowns of England and Scotland.

The Union of England and Scotland dates from 1st May 1707 - see  Act of Union with Scotland 1706 and the Act of Union with England Act 1707 ). Those Acts stated: 'That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England shall upon the first day of May next ensuing the date hereof and forever after be United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain And ...'   Independence would bring to an end this historic Union which has withstood the fierce furnaces of major events for over 300 years.

The Scottish government  has put forward the case for independence in a White Paper - Scotland's Future (670 pages).  here is some of the media reaction to the White Paper:  BBC; The Scotsman; The Telegraph; Daily Mail. 

HS2 ~ Hybrid Bill published

There is already an Act of Parliament relating to the proposed High Speed 2 rail project -High Speed Rail (Preparation) Act 2013.   It is an Act to make provision authorising expenditure in preparation for a high speed railway transport network.

A Bill, in two parts, has now been presented to Parliament - see Department of Transport.   The Bill may be read via the website of Parliament - High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill 

Bill (as introduced) - The Bill has 65 sections and 31 very detailed Schedules.


The Department of Transport said:

Northern Viewpoint ~ Scotland and the corroboration rule

Note - in  2015 the Scottish government deferred reform of the corroboration rule - BBC News 21 April 2015

One of the fascinations of the British Isles has to be the diversity of its legal systems.

Scotland has its own Parliament (operating under devolved powers) created by the Scotland Act 1998.  There are Scottish Ministers.  There is a Scottish Judiciary, system of courts and legal profession.  Scots Law developed separately to the law of England and Wales and it has its own principles and procedures.

When the Scotland Act 1998 was enacted, what was known as 'devolution jurisdiction' was given to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.  This jurisdiction was transferred to the Supreme Court of the UK following the creation of that court by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.  A 'devolution' case decided by the Supreme Court in 2010 seemed to send seismic shock waves through the Scottish legal system - Cadder v Her Majesty's Advocate [2010] UKSC 43 - [Press summary].

The question

Home Secretary's 'certificate' did not terminate judicial review

R (Ignaoua) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWCA Civ 1498 (Lord Dyson MR, Richards and Sullivan LJJ) is a most important decision relating to judicial review.   

Lord Justice Richards (delivering the court's unanimous judgment) said - (links to legislation added):

1. The appellant is the subject of a direction by the Secretary of State of the Home Department excluding him from the United Kingdom on the ground that his presence here would not be conducive to the public good for reasons of national security. He was informed of that direction in July 2010 (a decision to maintain the exclusion was made in March 2011). There was no right of appeal. In October 2010 he brought proceedings against the Secretary of State for judicial review of the direction. Those proceedings were held up by problems arising out of the Secretary of State's reliance on closed evidence. There were still outstanding issues of disclosure when, on 16 July 2013, the Secretary of State certified the direction under section 2C of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 ("the 1997 Act"), as inserted by section 15 of the Justice and Security Act 2013 ("the 2013 Act"), which came into force on 25 June 2013.

Henriques J

This excellent article about Mr Justice Henriques (who retired in late October) requires no further comment - Justice has been done and been seen to be done - Blackpool Gazette

Judiciary - Retirements - Sir Richard Henriques

Cockler Gangmaster gets 14 years - BBC 28th March 2006

Met Police guilty over De Menezes shooting  - The Guardian 1st November 2007

R v Irfan Naseer - terrorist plot - The Independent 26th April 2013 

Does the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights apply in UK or not - the Lisbon "opt out" (so called)

The British government are openly talking about the possibility of the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (the convention) which is a limited menu of fundamental rights.  The convention system comes under the aegis of the Council of Europe and it is designed to underpin human rights by requiring governments to protect such rights.  The Council of Europe (with 47 member states) is to be distinguished from the European Union (EU) (with 28 member states).  The judicial body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights (E Ct HR) based at Strasbourg.  The distinct judicial body for the EU is the Court of Justice of the EU based at Luxembourg.  

The EU is itself on a road toward becoming a signatory to the convention - Council of Europe.  It is argued by the Council of Europe that the EU's accession will strengthen the protection of human rights in Europe, by submitting the EU’s legal system to independent external control. It will also close gaps in legal protection by giving European citizens the same protection vis-à-vis acts of the EU as they presently enjoy from member states.  The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has also recognised and applied human rights when making decisions in particular cases - see, for example, the article by Elizabeth F. Defeis "Human Rights and the European Court of Justice" (2007) 31 Fordham International Law 5.

A further