GLD Vacancies

Ministry of Justice names panel for review of Human Rights Act

The Ministry of Justice has appointed a panel led by former Court of Appeal Judge Sir Peter Gross to examine how the Human Rights Act 1998 is operating.

The MoJ said the review would consider:

  • The relationship between the domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). “This includes how the duty to ‘take into account’ of ECtHR case law has been applied in practice, and whether dialogue between our domestic courts and the ECtHR works effectively and if there is room for improvement.”
  • The impact of the HRA on the relationship between the judiciary, executive and Parliament, “and whether domestic courts are being unduly drawn into areas of policy”.
  • The implications of the way in which the Human Rights Act applies outside the territory of the UK and whether there is a case for change.

The UK remains committed to the European Convention on Human Rights, the MoJ insisted, adding that the review was “limited to looking at the structural framework of the Human Rights Act, rather than the rights themselves”.

The panel members in addition to Sir Peter include:

  • Simon Davis: former partner in Clifford Chance and ex President of the Law Society.
  • Alan Bates: barrister at Monckton Chambers.
  • Professor Maria Cahill: Professor of Law at University College Cork.
  • Lisa Giovannetti QC: barrister at 39 Essex Chambers.
  • Sir Stephen Laws QC: Senior Research Fellow with Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project and First Parliamentary Counsel from 2006-2012.
  • Professor Tom Mullen: Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow.
  • Baroness O’Loan: solicitor and member of the House of Lords since 2009. She wa a member of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, said: “Human rights are deeply rooted in our constitution and the UK has a proud tradition of upholding and promoting them at home and abroad.

“After 20 years of operation, the time is right to consider whether the Human Rights Act is still working effectively.”

Sir Peter Gross said: “The Act constitutes a most important part of our legal framework; IHRAR will entail an independent process of careful reflection to consider its workings, together with whether and, if so, what, reforms might be justified.”

The MoJ said the review would run alongside the review of judicial review being led by Lord Faulks and was “part of the government’s work to deliver the commitment in the Manifesto to look at the broader aspects of the constitution and the relationship between the Government, Parliament and the courts”.