Health and Social Care Bill

July 21, 2008

The bill received Royal Assent on 21 July 2008 and became the Health and Social Care Act 2008. See the bill’s passage through Parliament. Joint NGO Briefing – House of Lords Committee Stage – May 2008 Joint NGO Briefing – House of Lords Second Reading – March 2008 Links JUSTICE Press Release – ‘Older and disabled […]

Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

The bill received Royal Assent on 21 July 2008 and became the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008. See the bill’s passage through Parliament. JUSTICE Briefing – House of Commons All Stages – July 2008 Links JUSTICE Press Release – ‘Anonymous witness law ‘misconceived” – July 2008  

JUSTICE Journal – Volume 5, Number 1

June 1, 2008

Contents of Volume 5 Number 1 Editorial  Papers Towards a Bill of Rights and Responsibility Rt Hon Jack Straw MP The Law and Faith lecture series organised by the London School of Economics and sponsored by JUSTICE: God in Public: reflections on faith and society Bishop Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, with a comment by […]

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

May 8, 2008

The bill received Royal Assent on 8 May 2008 and became the the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. See the bill’s progress through Parliament. JUSTICE Briefing – House of Lords Second Reading – January 2008 JUSTICE Briefing – House of Commons Second Reading – October 2007  

Torture (Damages) Bill

May 1, 2008

This is a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Lord Archer of Sandwell QC. View the latest information on this bill on Parliament’s website. JUSTICE Briefing – House of Lords Second Reading – May 2008  

Torture in UK law

January 6, 2008

Torture is illegal, right? Yes. The use of torture has been contrary to common law for several centuries, and the UK was well ahead of many other European jurisdictions in abolishing its use. Although the common law prohibited torture, however, the Privy Council continued to issue torture warrants until Felton’s case in 1628 and it […]

Homicide law reform

Why is homicide law reform topical? The government are proposing several changes to the law of homicide in their consultation Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide: proposals for reform of the law.((Ministry of Justice, July 2008)) It is expected that these proposals, or modified versions of them, will form part of the Law Reform, Victims and Witnesses […]

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

What is the Act about? What are the ‘Investigatory Powers’ it regulates? The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, or ‘RIPA’ as it is commonly known, governs the use of covert surveillance by public bodies. This includes bugs, video surveillance and interceptions of private communications (eg phone calls and emails), and even undercover agents (‘covert […]

Asylum and human rights

Why is asylum a human rights issue? Although the practice of states granting asylum is very old, the idea of political asylum as a basic right was first expressed in Article 14(1) of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, prompted by the experience of those fleeing Nazi persecution in the run-up to and during […]

JUSTICE Journal – Volume 4, Number 2

December 1, 2007

Contents of Volume 4 Number 2 Editorial  Justice, JUSTICE and judgment Roger Smith Papers Are judges now out of their depth? Professor Conor Gearty The place of equality in a bill of rights Colm O’Cinneide Transforming the judiciary: the politics of the judiciary in a democratic South Africa Geoff Budlender Articles Rights and responsibilities Eric […]