The Human Rights Act and life sentence prisoners Essay

The Human Rights Act and life clock time prisoners - Essay ExampleThere was a powerful presumption against the retrospective application of the Act, and in simile to transactions that had taken place prior to the approach shot into force of the Act there could be no question of interpretation under s 3 and accordingly no power to grant a declaration under s 4. 1 (Human Rights, Article 7)Three decisions of the House can be cited to decorate the strength of the interpretative obligation under dent 3(1). The first is R v A (No. 2) 2002 1 AC 45 which concerned the so-called rape shield legislation. The problem was the blanket exclusion of prior sexual history between the complainant and an accused in persona 41(1) of the Youth Justice and miserable Evidence Act 1999, subject to narrow specific categories in the remainder of section 41. In sequent decisions, and in academic literature, there has been discussion about differences of emphasis in the various opinions in A. What has been mostly overlooked is the unanimous conclusion of the House. The House unanimously agreed on an interpretation under section 3 which would ensure that section 41 would be compatible with the ECHR. The formulation was by agreement fixate out in paragraph 46 of Lord Steyns opinion in that case as followsThe belief of the decision today is that ... o the importance of seeking to protect the complainant from indignity and from humiliating questions, the test of admissibility is whether the severalize (and questioning in relation to it) is nevertheless so relevant to the issue of consent that to exclude it would queer the fairness of the trial under article 6 of the Convention. If this test is satisfied the evidence should not be excluded. (Lord Steyn, 2006a)Case Re S Care plan 2002 UKHL 10 House of Lords and Starred Care Plans Re S (Minors) 3 The House of Lords did not uphold the Court of Appeals creation of starred care plans, a bold attempt to devise a way for care plans whic h were not being implemented coming back to court instead they stressed the need for the government to urgently review this - power of section 3 HRA limited, court must be mindful of outer limit. Interpretation up to courts but portraiture and amendment matter for Parliament - starred milestones departed substantially from Parliamentary intentions so far as it is mathematical to do so, primary legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with convention rights . (Child adoption)Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead 4The Torbay caseThe appeals concern four children, two in the Torbay case and two in the Bedfordshire case. The cases are factually unrelated. In the Torbay case the mother had three children P, who is a boy born in August 1987, M, a boy born in January 1991, and J, a young lady born in January 1992. The children are now 14, 11 and 10 years old. The appeal concerns the two young children. The father of P, the eldest child, played no part in these proce edings. The mother met the father of M and J in 1987. They started to cohabit in 1989.Serious problems emerged in May 1999 when P ran away from home and