Human Rights Act 1998

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University of London Common Law Reasoning and Institutions Essay Title: Human Rights Act 1998 Candidate #:L1458 Student Registration #:101006174 Q. 'The HRA 1998 has had a little impact upon protecting the basic liberties of British subjects and could be repealed without any consequence'. Discuss. The UK does not have a written constitution as part of its national law. People there had long enjoyed a strong tradition of individual liberties but it has not always been easy to say precisely what to do when unwritten liberties conflict with other laws. The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights is a binding international agreement that the UK helped draft and has sought to comply with for over half a century. The Convention enshrines fundamental civil and political rights, but for many years it was not a full part of the domestic law. Using the Convention usually meant taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This was often time consuming and expensive. The Labour party incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into law through the Human Rights Act 1998. The 1997 white paper Rights Brought Home stated: ' It takes on average five years to get an action into the European Court of Human Rights once all domestic remedies have been exhausted; and it costs an average of £30,000. Bringing these rights home will mean that the British people will be able to argue for their rights in the British courts - without this inordinate delay and cost'. Since coming into force on 2 October 2000, the Human Rights Act has made rights from the ECHR enforceable in domestic courts. This is much quicker and simpler than the old arrangement. And the Act gives people a clear legal statement of their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. The key principle of the Act is that wherever possible there should be compatibility with the
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