In November 2017, the Irish High Court recognised the existence of a personal constitutional right to an environment that is consistent with the human dignity and well-being of citizens at large.
Read MoreIn three related decisions, the Australian High Court has for the first time ruled on several key aspects of section 44(i) of the Australian Constitution, relating to foreign citizenship for elected members of Parliament. The Court held that four Senators (Ludlam, Waters, Roberts and Nash), and one member of the House of Representatives (Joyce), were incapable of being elected to the Parliament because they were citizens of a foreign power. The Court also held that two other Senators whose election had been referred to the Court (Canavan and Xenophon) were validly elected and capable of sitting in the Parliament.
It is expected that the election of a number of further members of Parliament may be referred to the Court shortly for consideration.
Read MoreThe United Kingdom Supreme Court has held that fees imposed by the Lord Chancellor foremployment tribunal proceedings were unlawful because of their effects on access to justice, particularly for people experiencing disadvantage.
Read MoreThe Canadian Federal Court has ruled that the current procedure for revoking citizenship is unconstitutional as it deprives people of a fair hearing – a right protected by the Canadian Bill of Rights.
Read MoreThe European Court of Human Rights has found that the forced removal of an infant from his surrogate parents constituted an interference with the surrogate parents' right to respect for their private life under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, but that the actions taken by the Italian government were justified under the margin of appreciation under domestic laws prohibiting commercial surrogacy.
Read MoreThe UK High Court has ruled that ministers of the United Kingdom cannot employ prerogative powers to withdraw from the EU without an Act of Parliament authorising them to do so, as only an Act of Parliament can significantly alter the UK's constitutional arrangements. As EU law was a significant source of UK domestic law, the majority ruled that this legal source could not be removed by ministerial decision alone.
Read MoreAn order restraining Julian Knight from commencing legal proceedings without leave of the Court has been extended indefinitely under the Vexatious Proceedings Act 2014 (Vic) (“Act”). Justice J Forrest described Mr Knight as a “persistent and undeterred litigant who will continue to litigate any cause regardless of its merits” (at paragraph [37]).
Read MoreIt is a fundamental principle of criminal law in many jurisdictions that a person who assists or encourages another to commit a crime (an accessory) is guilty of the same offence as the principal offender. The case of Chan Wing-Siu v The Queen [1985] AC 168 introduced a new principle widening the application of the law of secondary liability whereby if two people set out to commit an offence (crime A), and in the course of that joint enterprise one of them (D1) commits another offence (crime B), the second person (D2) is nevertheless guilty as an accessory to crime B if he had foreseen the possibility that D1 might act as they did. This principle is commonly referred to as ‘parasitic accessory liability’ or ‘joint enterprise liability’.
Read MoreThe High Court of Australia has recently handed down a unanimous judgment quashing a decision of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to cancel an international student visa, on the basis that the decision was reached by a process of fact-finding that was tainted by a third party’s failure to perform its imperative statutory duty. The decision was thus tainted by jurisdictional error.
Read MoreThe Victorian Court of Appeal, in a four to one majority, has found baseline sentencing provisions in the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) (the Act) to be “incapable of being given any practical operation”.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court of the Northern Territory has upheld the right to liberty by excluding evidence of offences committed after a legal, but improper, arrest by police officers for drinking in a public place.
Read MoreIn a judgment handed down on 15 November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights held that a state’s failure to adequately protect a person from defamation amounted to a breach of art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which enshrines the right to respect for private and family life. The judgment also considered the balance between the right to private life and reputation, on the one hand, and the right to freedom of expression on the other.
Read MoreThe European Court of Human Rights in Oganova v Georgia found that, generally, the right to a fair hearing implies the right to an oral hearing but that, in certain special circumstances, it may be permissible for an appellate court to determine a matter by written submissions in the interests of the efficient administration of justice.
Read MoreIn Gault v United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights held that the detention of Ms Lesley Gault pending re-trial violated art 5(1)(c) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court held that no separate issue arose under art 8 of the Convention in respect of the applicant’s right to private and family life in relation to her three young children.
Read MoreIn sentencing a young offender found guilty of murder, Bell J of the Supreme Court of Victoria had regard to international human rights principles, including the rights of the child under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the exercise of his sentencing discretion.
Read MoreFlux and Samson v Moldova [2007] ECHR 28700/03 (23 October 2007)
The European Court of Human Rights has held that judicial decisions in defamation proceedings brought against a Moldovan newspaper interfered with its right to freedom of expression, and more specifically its right to disseminate public opinion on a matter of public interest. The decision addressed the permissible limitations on the right to freedom of expression in the context of a potentially defamatory publication.
Read MoreThe European Court of Human Rights has held that the right to a fair hearing subsumes a right of access to a court and that a requirement to pay substantial court fees to file or proceed with a claim may constitute a violation of that right.
Read MoreA recent decision of the England and Wales High Court considered whether the Parole Board had the necessary independence required by art 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights and may be relevant to a determination under s 24 of the Victorian Charter as to whether a court or tribunal is ‘competent, independent and impartial’.
Read MoreIn a very significant decision, the Supreme Court of Victoria has considered the relevance and application of the human rights to equality before the law, access to justice and the right to a fair hearing under the ICCPR to the right to a fair trial under Victorian law and the obligations of the court to self-represented litigants.
Read MoreThis case concerned the investigative duties imposed upon authorities by art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to life) following the injury or death of an individual whilst in custody. In particular, the case turned on whether an obligation to carry out an ‘enhanced investigation’ was subject to a threshold test of ‘arguability’.
Read More