Law and Morality

Question 1

DPP v Knuller

Answer 1

• D published a magazine.
• Magazine advertisements were placed by homosexuals seeking to meet other like minded individuals to engage in sexual practices.
• Charged with conspiracy to corrupt public morals.

Question 2

R v Gibson

Answer 2

• Ds exhibited at an exhibition in a commercial art gallery, a model’s head to which were attached earrings made out of freeze-dried human foetuses.
• Open to and visited by members of the public.
• Ds charged and convicted with public decency contrary to common law.

Question 3

R v Brown

Answer 3

• Homosexual sadomasochists were charged and convicted with S47 and S20 offences, despite consent of the victims.
• “Consent and Sexual Activity”
• The acts were simply violence masked as sexual activity and against public policy.

Question 4

R v Wilson (Valid Consent)

Answer 4

• D branded his initials on his wife’s buttocks with a hot knife.
• Husband was charged with ABH under s.47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
• The court further held that consensual activity between husband and wife in the privacy of the matrimonial home was not a matter for the courts.

Question 5

R v G

Answer 5

• D, aged 15, had sexual intercourse with a girl, aged 12
• Consent was not at issue as sexual intercourse with a person aged under 13 is a statutory offence.
• Baroness Hale, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is designed not only to protect children from pedophilia, but also to prevent children aged under 13 from engaging in any sexual activity with others.

Question 6

Pearce v Brooks

Answer 6

• A cab owner failed to enforce a contract with a prostitute who used his cabs for trade because the courts were not prepared to allow contracts for immoral purposes.

Question 7

Parkinson v College of Ambulance

Answer 7

• Contract was void because its whole purpose was corruption in public life.

Question 8

Otkritie International Investment Management Ltd v Urumov

Answer 8

• Court specifically made the connection between morality and the law.
• Public policy requires the courts will not lend their aid to a man who founds his action upon an immoral or illegal act.

Question 9

MacFarlane v Tayside Health Board

Answer 9

• Mr MacFarlane fathered a child, and he and his wife sought damages for the cost of care among others, the claim for damages in respect of the rearing of the child was dismissed.
• Court must apply positive law. Morals have helped shape the current law.
• “What may count in a situation of difficulty and uncertainty is not subjective view of the judge but what he reasonably believes that the ordinary citizen would regard as right.”
• Situation is still conflicted. Wether one talks of ‘morals’, judges have to apply themselves to real cases with real facts and real people and reflect the situation as they perceive it as to any moral issues.

Question 10

Tysiac v Poland

Answer 10

• Poland, abortion was illegal.
• If T didn’t get it she would go blind.
• Underwent labor, and turned blind.
• Sued doctor after condition deteriorated.
• Appealed under Article 8 (right to private life) and there was a violation.
• She was awarded €25,000 in non-pecuniary losses and €14000 in costs and expenses.

Question 11

R v Lyons

Answer 11

• D wanted to be discharged from army due to being deployed in Afghanistan.
• Conscientious objection refused.
• Convicted of insubordination.
• Argued A9 ECHR (freedom of thought, conscience religion) protected him from active service.
• Appellant was not entitled disobey a lawful command as it would be the same for everyone.