UK Relationship between branches

Question 1

Bloomberg v. ZXC (2022)

Answer 1

• Ruling on the HRA.
• Bloomberg had violated ZXC’s right to privacy under the HRA. - Set precedent when weighing up an individual’s right to a private life against a publisher’s right to freedom of expression.

Question 2

R (Miller) v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (2017)

Answer 2

• A case on constitutional law.
• The court ruled that the British government could not activate the withdrawal from the EU as prescribed by Article 50 without an act of Parliament, giving the government permission from Parliament to do so.

Question 3

AM (Zimbabwe) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (2020)

Answer 3

• Ruling on the HRA.
• The court ruled that deporting AM, who had been convinced of multiple criminal offences resulting in the Secretary of State looking to deport him, violated Article 3 and Article 8 of the ECHR. If AM, who was also HIV-positive, had been deported to Zimbabwe, he wouldn’t have had access to the suitable treatment. He would also have been separated from his wife and daughter, violating his right to family life.

Question 4

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v. DSD and another (2018)

Answer 4

• Judicial review and based on HRA.
• The court ruled that the police have a duty to properly investigate reported crimes of serious violence as the police ignored reported attacks from the black cab driver in 2003 and 2007 allowing him to continue until his arrest in 2009. By failing to undertake a proper investigation, the women were exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3, HRA).

Question 5

RR v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2021)

Answer 5

• Judicial review
• A man who lived with his disabled partner in a two bedroom house, who needed a room for his medical supplies and equipment, was informed that he only needed one bedroom for the couple. The bedroom tax was therefore implemented. The court ruled that the decision to reduce housing benefit would breach the man’s human rights and was unlawful.
• This case not only changed the life of the man who took the judicial review to court but also over 100 people in a similar situation.

Question 6

Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Jamaica (2022)

Answer 6

• Based on HRA.
• The case regarded a Jamaican International who had been convicted of multiple crimes and whether it would be safe to deport the individual back to Jamaica where his mother had been persecuted by gang members.
• The court ruled the potential deportation to violate Article 8 of the ECHR (depriving the individual of the rights to family and private life) and Article 3 as the court ruled it unreasonable to expect the individual to stay in rural areas of Jamaica (“internal relocation”).

Question 7

R (Miller) v. PM (2019)

Answer 7

• A case on constitutional law.
• The court ruled Boris Johnson’s proroguing of Parliament for what he expected to be 5 weeks (leaving Parliament open for only 17 days before the parliamentary Brexit vote) to be unlawful.
• Opposition members of Parliament had described it as an unlawful attempt to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.
• Miller claimed this to be “a win for Parliamentary sovereignty”.

Question 8

Jeremy Hunt and Save Lewisham Hospital campaign (2013)

Answer 8

• Ultra vires.
• The court ruled that Hunt had acted outside his legal power as Health Secretary. His cuts to the the maternity and emergency departments of the hospital were quashed as the court found he had breached his power under the NHS Act 2006.

Question 9

R (Friends of the Earth et al) v. Heathrow Airport Ltd

Answer 9

• Judicial activism.
• Ruling on a decision of the executive branch.
• The Supreme Court overturned the lower courts ban on the third runway, with the court of appeals ruling that the plans were in disagreement with the up-to-date UK climate targets. The UKSC ruled that the strategy was based on previous, less stringent climate targets at the time it was agreed.

Question 10

Begum v. Home Secretary (2021)

Answer 10

• Ruling on HRA.
• The Supreme court overturned the decision of the court of appeal, claiming that it had mistakenly believed that “when an individual’s right to have a fair hearing of an appeal came into conflict with the requirements of national security, her right to a fair hearing must prevail”.
• This case poses a human right, article 6 - right to a fair trial, against natural security and the safety of people setting clear precedent for when they clash in the future.

Question 11

R (on the application of Coughlan) v. Minister for the Cabinet Office (2022)

Answer 11

• Ruling on actions of the executive branch.
• The Supreme court unanimously dismissed Coughlan’s claims, as the Representation of the People Act 2000 specifically gives the Minister for the Cabinet office the power to enforce such pilot voting schemes, in this case to do with voter ID pilot schemes.
• The pilot schemes were used to gather information to assist in the modernisation of election procedures.

Question 12

How many judicial review cases were lodged in 2018?
How many made of these cases were heard by the Supreme court?

Answer 12

• In 2018, around 3,600 claims for judicial review were lodged.
• Only about 5% of total cases reach full oral hearing.

Question 13

Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (2023)

Answer 13

• The bill passed by the Scottish Parliament amends part of the bill passed by the UK Parliament in 2004, making it simpler for people to change their legal gender.
• The UK government used section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to block the bill from receiving royal assent, the first time it has ever been used. The reason given was concerns that the bill would adversely impact the UK-wide Equality Act 2010.

Question 14

Treasury v. Ahmed (2010)

Answer 14

• It forced the government of Gordon Brown to conceive and pass within a week the Terrorist Asset-Freezing Act 2010.

Question 15

Supreme Court judgment on Scottish independence referendum