Tag: proportionality
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Bernard Keenan and Ewan Smith: Proscription, Proportion and Palestine Action – Part 2
Introduction Part 1 of this post explained the central problem in the Ammori litigation. We summarized why the Divisional Court ([2026] EWHC 292 (Admin) thought the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was unlawful, and why the Court of Appeal ([2026] EWCA Civ 721)) reversed that decision. We also highlighted how each court approached…
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Bernard Keenan and Ewan Smith: Proscription, Proportion, and Palestine Action – Part 1
Introduction The Supreme Court will hear the Home Secretary’s appeal in R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department on 4 and 5 November 2026. The case concerns the Home Secretary’s June 2025 decision to proscribe Palestine Action under s.3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TA). Hundreds of prosecutions are currently pending in…
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Chris Rowe: Requalifying Article 8: The Immigration and Asylum Bill
The Immigration and Asylum Bill is the government’s third attempt to directly change how judges interpret and apply Article 8. Below I assess the likely impact of the proposed changes in the context of the previous reform efforts in 2012 and in particular 2014. I argue that (a) as previously the Bill does not require the courts to decide Article…
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Adam Tomkins: On ABJ: Proscribed Organisations, Proportionality, and Freedom of Speech
In R v ABJ [2026] UKSC 8 a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the offence of expressing support for a proscribed organisation, as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, is not a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court’s verdict was no surprise: the…
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Alexander Baxter: Common Law Post-ECHR: What Lord Briggs’ Anniversary Lecture Tells Us
Introduction At the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Human Rights Act, Lord Briggs of Westbourne delivered a lecture that quietly advanced a vision of what a post-HRA constitutional framework might look like. Delivered at a moment when political discussion of withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights has gained real momentum, the speech did…
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Richard Martin: Counting Cumulative Impact: More Public Order Law Additions
Following the horrific antisemitic attack at a Manchester synagogue in October, the government has announced plans to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The proposed changes would explicitly allow police to consider the cumulative impact of frequent protests when imposing conditions on public processions and assemblies. This announcement carries a…
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Karolina Szopa: Triumph for Abortion Rights, or a Trojan Horse? The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill and Proportionality Assessment
Introduction On the 7 December 2022, the judgment of the UK Supreme Court in the Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland – Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill (‘SAZ’) affirmed the legality of a measure aimed at strengthening the exercise of the right to abortion in Northern Ireland (NI). The case concerned a…
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Autumn Ellis: Lawfulness of policies of public bodies and Freedom of Expression under Article 10 ECHR
The reaffirmation of the Gillick test by the Supreme Court Thirty five years after Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech AHA (Gillick) was decided, the Supreme Court took the opportunity, in R (A) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (A) and R (BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department(BF), (previously discussed in this blog here), to restate the boundaries of the test…
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Guy Baldwin: Banning Public Worship during the Pandemic?
As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into its second year, the tension between freedom of religion and public health measures has become increasingly acute. In Scotland, the issue has come to the fore with the decision of the Outer House of the Court of Session in Philip. In that case, Lord Braid found that Scottish regulations…
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Liora Lazarus: Do Human Rights Impede Effective Counterterrorism?
Theresa May and Keir Starmer disagree about whether human rights impede effective counterterrorism. Both bring experience at the coalface of this field, May as former Home Secretary, and Starmer as former DPP responsible for the prosecution of terrorist cases. Who is right? There is no point in pretending that human rights do not present legal…