Access to Justice

Email Updates Blogs RSS Link
https-i0-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-unknown-1-jpgresize225%2c225ssl1
Or, as Andrew Neil put it on the Spectator TV News Channel this week, “A Dripping Roast For Lawyers”. To be fair, Neil was referring to the patchwork of mandatory vaccines across the United States. But with the publication yesterday of the Government’s consultation paper on vaccine requirements for all staff deployed in a care home supporting at least one older adult over the age of 65, the debate raging about “vaccine passports” has a…
So, you’d think with all the talk about expanding the number of SCOTUS Justices at some point rationality would settle in and we’d take a close, sober and objective look. Nothing doing. This is the United States in post Trump world and we don’t do rational or sober or objective. But we at LoS are going to make the effort, as we so often do, by ourselves. There are nine Supreme Court Justices, a number…
https-i0-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-37234429440_4263a46265_o-jpgresize900%2c598ssl1
In the news: On Wednesday, Amnesty International released its 2020/21 report on the state of the world’s human rights.  Amnesty’s UK director, Kate Allen, also called for an inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic and said “the government is now shamefully trying to strip away our right to lawfully challenge its decisions, no matter how poor they are.”  The report highlighted human rights concerns related to the government’s response to COVID-19, including health,…
https-i1-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-lawpodlogo-1-jpgresize505%2c505ssl1
Following International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Emma-Louise Fenelon spoke to Harriet Wistrich, founder of the Centre for Women’s Justice about the many ways in which the UK criminal justice system is failing women. In Episode 140 they discuss the report by the Centre for Women’s Justice, ‘Women Who Kill: How The State Criminalises Women We Might Otherwise Be Burying’. Law Pod UK is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audioboom, Player …
https-i0-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-uber-jpgresize290%2c174ssl1
Uber representatives celebrate after Supreme Court victory in February In Episode 139 of Law Pod UK Alasdair Henderson of 1 Crown Office Row joins Rosalind English to discuss the recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court that drivers whose work is arranged through Uber’s smartphone app work for Uber under workers’ contracts and so qualify for the protections afforded by employment law, such as minimum wage and paid holiday leave. We also touch upon the…
https-i0-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-90-jpegresize645%2c380ssl1
Pendragon v Coom [2021] EW Misc 4 CC (22 March 2021) As we all know, the acquisition of puppies during lockdown has gone through the roof with the inevitable sad consequences of remorse followed by neglect and even abandonment. Dog theft has spiralled as the market responds by escalating the price of pedigree puppies. But this case involved a different issue that could have arisen at any time (and indeed the relevant transaction took place…
Let’s face it, for the most part things at the SCOTUS have gotten rather tedious. But Brown represents a possible departure from the norm. A strange grant. There were only two indications that there was any SCOTUS interest at all – a) the government was the Petitioner; and b) and there was one, just one relist – before cert was granted. More importantly, it’s an interesting grant. What is SCOTUS actually up to here? Why…
https-i1-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2020-12-royal_courts_of_justice_-_main_hall_-_03-jpgresize340%2c453ssl1
Farrell v HMC for North East Hampshire [2021] EWHC 778 (Admin) Applying for a fresh inquest is not straightforward. First, the bereaved have to get permission from the Attorney General. Only once that authority has been granted will they be allowed to apply to the High Court to reopen the inquest (section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988). Often cases are reopened because new evidence has come to light or there has been insufficiency of…
Odd that we missed this one. An actual habeas case. And today, the SCOTUS took it up. What is the scintillating issue the Justices seized upon, committing all manner of “judicial resources” to resolve it? Issue: Whether a federal habeas court may grant relief based solely on its conclusion that the test from Brecht v. Abrahamson is satisfied, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held, or whether the court must…
https-i1-wp-com-ukhumanrightsblog-com-wp-content-uploads-2021-04-florian-olivo-ygf4ol3_3be-unsplash-jpgresize1024%2c683ssl1
In the news On Friday, former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett raised his issues with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, an enormous piece of legislation that reforms much existing legislation and common law offences. Lord Blunkett pointed to the difficulties the police could face in interpreting the new law, and the sensitive nature of the relationship between the police and protestors. The Bill is currently at the Committee Stage of Parliamentary procedure. Particular…