Human Rights Act 1998

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The Human Rights Act 1998 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which actually came into effect in the year 2000. It basically means that all laws of the United Kingdom, before and after the passage of the act, must be interpreted in the light of it. It has affected how almost every public body in the country is run, and is widely criticised from the political right and narrowly criticised from the political left.

Contents

[edit] Background

As Britain had already signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, the rights found this act already technically applied to the United Kingdom. However, in order to actually seek redress under these rights, a long and expensive legal battle had to be fought through the European Courts. The Human Rights Act allowed British judges to make rulings on Human Rights, with the European Courts only acting as an appellate court.

The Act also officially abolished the death penalty in the United Kingdom, although the death penalty only existed for certain military crimes and hadn't been used in decades.

[edit] Criticism

[edit] From the right

The Conservative Party went into the 2010 general election promising to abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a, "Bill of Rights for Britain." They feel that the Human Rights Act, among other things, prioritises the right of the criminal over the victim, claim that the government's ability to expel disruptive children from schools and deport dangerous criminals in seriously weakened by the act and that it has led to a whole world of expensive, pointless litigation. Naturally, none of this is actually true.

[edit] From the left

Certain criticism has come from left-wingers that the Human Rights Act does not protect people enough, as certain provisions allow for different implications in times of war, or against terrorism.

[edit] Politicising judges

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