VM v British Columbia (Director of Child, Family and Community Service) 2008 BCSC 449 (13 June 2008) The Supreme Court of British Columbia has held that the decisions of a Provincial Courtand a public official to authorise medically-necessary blood transfusions for four infants against the express wishes of their parents did not breach the parents’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Scoppola v Italy [2008] ECHR 50550/06 (10 June 2008)The European Court of Human Rights held that there had been a violation of art 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights because the applicant’s conditions of detention were not appropriate to his state of health.

R v Kapp, 2008 SCC 41 (27 June 2008) In a significant recent decision, the Supreme Court of Canada held that proactive schemes which seek to ameliorate the conditions of disadvantaged groups do not contravene the guarantee of equality in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  In doing so, the Court re-emphasised the Canadian Charter’s concern with substantive equality.

R v Davis [2008] UKHL 36 (18 June 2008) In this case, the House of Lords held that the use of anonymous witnesses prevented the accused from adequately examining his accusers, and thereby denied him a fair trial in accordance with both the common law and art 6(3)(d) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  Further, the House of Lords held that a conviction should not be based solely, nor to a decisive extent, upon the evidence of anonymous witnesses.

R (Weaver) v London and Quadrant Housing Trust [2008] EWHC 1377 (Admin) (24 June 2008) The UK High Court of Justice has recently considered the meaning of ‘public authority’ under the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK).  In this decision, Registered Social Landlords were held to be public authorities for the purposes of the Act.

Maslov v Austria [2008] ECHR 1638/03 (23 June 2008) The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has held that the deportation of a youth who had spent the majority of his childhood in Austria constituted a violation of his right to respect for his family and private life.

Bobrowski v Poland [2008] ECHR 64916/01 (17 June 2008) The European Court of Human Rights has held that Poland violated its obligation to ensure a fair trial under art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to grant legal aid to an individual in respect of civil proceedings.  However, the Court held that a denial of legal aid was justified where the applicant had hired his or her own private lawyer, notwithstanding that the lawyer proved to not be competent.

Beoku-Betts (FC) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2008] UKHL 39 (25 June 2008) The House of Lords held that the right to family life should be interpreted broadly, and encompass consideration of the rights of other family members, when determining an appeal against the Secretary of State's refusal of leave to remain under s 65 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (UK).

MM (Guardianship) [2008] VCAT 1282 (26 June 2008) VCAT has imposed a supervised treatment order on a man with an intellectual disability, requiring him to be kept in detention to ensure his compliance with a treatment plan – despite his willingness to consent to the plan – to reduce the risk that he could cause harm to others.  The Tribunal referred to, but undertook scant analysis of, the interpretative provisions of the Charter and the requirement that any limitation on a right be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Director of Housing v TP (Residential Tenancies) [2008] VCAT 1275 (24 June 2008) In this case, VCAT considered that the rights to privacy and family, and to protection of children and the family unit, were relevant to determining whether an application for an order of possession by the Director of Housing should be granted as against a single mother of four children.

Carwoode Pty Ltd v Cardinia SC (Red Dot) [2008] VCAT 1334 (23 June 2008) This was a case regarding an application for permits to subdivide land and construct various buildings ancillary to a freeway which would involve the removal of native vegetation to the detriment of the Growling Grass Frog.  During the hearing of the merits, a challenge was made to VCAT’s jurisdiction to hear the matter and submissions were made that VCAT had failed to abide by the principles of natural justice and the Charter.

PHS Community Services Society v Attorney-General (Canada) 2008 BCSC 661 (27 May 2008) The Supreme Court of British Columbia recently declared that laws which made safe self-injecting rooms illegal were unconstitutional and incompatible with the rights to life, liberty and security of the person in the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.