Alexander Campbell

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms which contracting parties are required to respect. This Practice Note summarises the main Convention rights and the case law interpreting them.

This Practice Note examines compatibility of legislation with the Convention rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. It outlines the parliamentary procedure to make statements during the early stages of the legislative process to the effect that proposed legislation is compatible with Convention rights. It also considers sections 3 and 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998, which respectively concern the duty to interpret legislation compatibly with Convention rights and the courts’ power to declare a legislative provision incompatible with Convention rights. It also includes a tracker of declarations of incompatibility.

This Practice Note examines the general routes to a judgment that a public authority has acted compatibly with Convention rights, and not violated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). These include derogations, reservations and matters within a state’s margin of appreciation. It also briefly considers the limits on restrictions which ECHR contracting states can place on Convention rights.

Human rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), ie Convention rights, can be broadly divided into three groups: absolute, qualified and limited. This Practice Note identifies what qualified Convention rights are, and examines the conditions that are necessary for an interference with qualified Convention rights to be permitted under the ECHR.

Where a local housing authority in Wales believes that a person is homeless or may be threatened with homelessness, it has a duty to make inquiries into their eligibility for homelessness assistance and into what housing duty (if any) is owed to them under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014). This Practice Note considers the definitions of the terms 'homeless' and 'threatened with homelessness’ as set out in H(W)A 2014, s 55.

This Practice Note covers the interim duties owed by a local housing authority (LHA) in Wales toward those presenting as homeless. It covers when interim duties occur, the need to provide immediate accommodation in certain circumstances and when the interim duty is discharged.

This Practice Note covers the interim duties that a local housing authority (LHA) has to provide accommodation to a homeless applicant pending completion of its initial enquiries into the applicant’s circumstances pursuant to section 188 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). It also covers the power to accommodate pending an HA 1996, s 202 review and HA 1996, s 204 appeal of an unfavourable decision for the applicant.

This Practice Note considers the definitions of the terms ‘homeless’ and ‘threatened with homelessness’ as set out in section 175 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). Where a local housing authority (LHA) believes that a person is homeless or may be threatened with homelessness, it has a duty to make inquiries into their eligibility for homelessness assistance and into what housing duty (if any) is owed to them under HA 1996.

This Practice Note outlines the main principles of statutory interpretation relevant to the protection of human rights in UK law, examining the relevant case law and principles, so that lawyers can take them into account when advising, and legislative drafters can ensure new legislation is drafted in accordance with these principles.

This Practice Note considers the doctrines of judicial deference and the margin of appreciation in the context of human rights law. Judicial deference (the weight given to the views of Parliament and executive as to proportionality of the interference), and the margin of appreciation (the leeway enjoyed by States to evaluate local needs and conditions impacting on implementing human rights), assist in determining whether a decision on point in a case constitutes a proportionate interference with one or more Convention rights within the competence of the legislature or executive.

Under the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) public authorities are required act in a way that is compatible with Convention rights. Whether a body is a public authority for the purposes of the HRA 1998 can be determined on whether they are a core or non-core public authority. This Practice Note outlines the case law for both core and non-core public authorities and circumstances to take into account.

This Practice Note considers the law around whether the decisions in cases taken to Strasbourg are binding on the UK. It outlines how the Human Rights Act 1998 gives effect to Convention rights and the extent of the mirror principle.

This Q&A addresses the question of whether, when a landlord has failed to register a tenancy deposit within the 30-day period for doing so, their successor in title can enter into an agreement with the tenant which provides that the tenant will not take action for the failure.

This Q&A considers who the tenant of a commercial unit should bring legal proceedings against when they suffer damage from a leak from a residential property upstairs. Specifically, this Q&A addresses the question of whether, in circumstances where the landlord is the same for both the commercial and residential unit, the commercial tenant should bring proceedings against the residential tenant or instead against the landlord requiring them to enforce the residential tenant’s lease.

This Q&A considers the question of how a judgment creditor who has obtained a final charging order over a debtor’s property can obtain information about a prior registered charge on the property before deciding to apply for an order for sale.

This Q&A considers professional arbitration on court terms and what it can be used for.

This Q&A considers whether B taking A’s post up the staircase and leaving it through A’s door, for which B has a key for access would constitute delivery of good service for providing notices by post under an AST.

This Q&A considers the procedure for a landlord to serve notice to terminate a farm business tenancy where there are two tenants (a husband and wife) but where one is currently out of the country.

This Q&A considers whether a landlord in a business tenancy who serves a section 25 notice putting forward their proposals for terms for a new business tenancy between the parties is bound by the proposed rent that they included in their section 25 notice.

This Q&A looks at how to ascertain the periods of a tenancy and when a notice to increase rent under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 should take effect.