European Court of Human Rights: Judgment in Ireland v. United Kingdom (Inhumane and Degrading Treatment and Torture)

1978 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 680-713
1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-293
Author(s):  
Andrew Bainham

THE ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in A v. United Kingdom (Human Rights: Punishment of Child) [1998] 2 F.L.R. 959 that to beat repeatedly a nine-year-old boy with a garden cane, leaving linear bruises on his thighs and buttocks which remained for up to one week, amounted to “torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” contrary to Article 3 of the Convention will occasion little suprise. What will have come as unwelcome news to some is the unanimous decision of the Court that the Government of the United Kingdom could itself be held liable for failing to take measures which could have prevented these beatings by the child's stepfather.


Author(s):  
Thomas E. Webb

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Republic of Ireland v United Kingdom (1979-80) 2 EHRR 25, European Court of Human Rights. This case concerned whether interrogation techniques employed by the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland between 1971 and 1975 amounted to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. More generally, the case note considers the differences between absolute, limited, and qualified rights. The case predates the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.


Author(s):  
Anne Stanesby

<p>Keenan v The United Kingdom. TLR 3/4/01<br />European Court of Human Rights. Application no. 27229/95<br />(Judgement 3 April 2001).</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-208
Author(s):  
Naomi Hart

THE ECtHR has for the second time in three years engaged with the British Government's handling of whole-life prison terms. In Hutchinson v United Kingdom (Application no. 57592/08), Judgment of 3 February 2015, not yet reported, the Fourth Section accepted the authoritativeness of an English court's decision on the meaning of English law relating to the Home Secretary's discretion to reduce a whole-life sentence. It also yielded to national judges on whether this sentence review mechanism complies with the proscription on inhuman and degrading treatment in Article 3 of the ECHR.


Author(s):  
Thomas E. Webb

Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Ireland v United Kingdom (1979-80) 2 EHRR 25, European Court of Human Rights. This case concerned whether interrogation techniques employed by the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland between 1971 and 1975 amounted to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. More generally, the case note considers the differences between absolute, limited, and qualified rights. The case predates the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.


Author(s):  
Dolores Morondo Taramundi

This chapter analyses arguments regarding conflicts of rights in the field of antidiscrimination law, which is a troublesome and less studied area of the growing literature on conflicts of rights. Through discussion of Ladele and McFarlane v. The United Kingdom, a case before the European Court of Human Rights, the chapter examines how the construction of this kind of controversy in terms of ‘competing rights’ or ‘conflicts of rights’ seems to produce paradoxical results. Assessment of these apparent difficulties leads the discussion in two different directions. On the one hand, some troubles come to light regarding the use of the conflict of rights frame itself in the field of antidiscrimination law, particularly in relation to the main technique (‘balancing of rights’) to solve them. On the other hand, some serious consequences of the conflict of rights frame on the development of the antidiscrimination theory of the ECtHR are unearthed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 531-680

531Human rights — Rights of women in Northern Ireland — Pregnant women and girls — Autonomy and bodily integrity — Right to respect for private and family life — Rights of persons with disabilities — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Prohibition on abortion in cases of serious malformation of foetus, rape and incest — Balancing of rights — Whether moral and political issues relevant — Role of courts and Parliament — Whether abortion law incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeHuman rights — Right to respect for private and family life — Qualified right — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Prohibition on abortion in cases of serious malformation of foetus, rape and incest — Interference with right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether interference justified — Whether interference prescribed by law — Whether having legitimate aim — Whether necessary in democratic society — Whether proportionate — In case of fatal foetal abnormality — In case of rape — In case of incest — In case of serious foetal abnormality — Balancing of rights — European Court of Human Rights — Margin of appreciation accorded to United Kingdom represented by Northern Ireland Assembly — Whether legislative situation in Northern Ireland tenable — Role of legislature and courts — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeHuman rights — Rights of persons with disabilities — Treaties — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Northern Ireland abortion law prohibiting abortion in cases of serious malformation of the foetus — Foetus having potential to develop into child with disability in cases of serious foetal abnormality — Value of life with and without disability — Whether life having equal worth — United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommending States amend abortion laws so as to value equally the life of a person with disabilities — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law disproportionate in cases of serious foetal abnormality — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be made532Human rights — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Article 3 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Rights of girls and women in Northern Ireland pregnant with foetuses with fatal abnormality or due to rape or incest — Article 3 absolute right — Effect on victim — Whether mothers continuing against their will with fatal foetal abnormality pregnancies or pregnancies due to rape or incest, or having to travel to England for an abortion, likely to suffer inhuman and degrading treatment — Whether any ill-treatment under Article 3 reaching minimum level of severity — Obligations owed by the State under Article 3 of European Convention — Vulnerability of women — Personal autonomy — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 3 of European Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Implementation — Interpretation — Effect in domestic law — International treaties to which United Kingdom a party — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Human Rights Act 1998 — United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Whether moral and political issues relevant — Balancing of rights — Northern Ireland abortion law interfering with right under Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Whether interference justified — Whether prescribed by law — Whether having legitimate aim — Whether necessary in democratic society — Whether proportionate — Relevance of moral and political views — Role of courts and Parliament in abortion debate — Whether pregnant women and girls subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment — Whether reaching minimum level of severity for breach of Article 3 of European Convention — Whether Northern Ireland abortion law incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeRelationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Effect in domestic law — Abortion law in Northern Ireland — Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 — Section 25(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (NI) 1945 — Right to respect for private and family life — Right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — Whether abortion law in 533Northern Ireland incompatible with Article 8 of European Convention — Balancing of rights — Whether abortion law justified — Whether moral and political values relevant — Margin of appreciation accorded to States by European Court of Human Rights — Whether abortion law in Northern Ireland incompatible with Articles 3 and 8 of European Convention — Whether declaration of incompatibility should be madeTreaties — Interpretation — Implementation — Application — Effect in domestic law — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Interpreting European Convention in light of other international treaties to which United Kingdom a party — United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 — United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 — Relevance of unincorporated international treaties when applying European Convention via Human Rights Act 1998 — The law of the United Kingdom


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document