Civil liberties in the United Kingdom

"We will do our best to see that our decisions are in conformity with it. But it is drawn in such vague terms that it can be used for all sorts of unreasonable claims and provoke all sorts of litigation. As so often happens with high-sounding principles, they have to be brought down to earth. They have to be applied in a work-a-day world."

• The Sunday Times v United Kingdom (1979–80) 2 EHRR 245. The Attorney-General had obtained an injunction preventing The Sunday Times newspaper from publishing an article describing the history of the testing, manufacture and marketing of the drug thalidomide by The Distillers Company, on the grounds that it would prejudice ongoing litigation between Distillers and parents of children who had suffered birth-defects caused by the drug. By 11 votes to 9, the European Court of Human Rights held that the injunction violated the paper's right to freedom of expression under Art.10 ECHR.

In response to this judgment the UK parliament passed the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

1980s

• Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, allowed four days' detention without trial (previously it was 24 hours).
• CCSU v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 374, where GCHQ members were banned by Margaret Thatcher (also the Minister for the Civil Service) from belonging to unions. The House of Lords held that the Royal prerogative was subject to judicial review. Banning unions was within the discretion of the Minister.
• Malone v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1979] Ch 344, Megarry VC said that the executive could do anything that was not prohibited by law (purporting to reverse Entick v Carrington). This meant that a dodgy antique dealer could not be prosecuted for handling stolen goods based on evidence from a wire tap that the police had no authority under any statute to do.
• Malone v United Kingdom (1984) 7 EHRR 14, said that UK allowing the phone tapping is in breach of its obligations under the ECHR, because there was no law that did 'indicate with reasonable clarity the scope and manner of exercise of the relevant discretion conferred on the public authorities."^[14]
• Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 permits the government to impose restrictions or requirements on individuals in the event of a public health emergency. This legislation was used to justify the government's response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.^[15][16]
• Interception of Communications Act 1985, the government's response to the ruling, allowing any phone tapping.
• miners' strike
  , Part II limited public processions and demonstrations by requiring 6 days advance notice to be given to the police.

• David Shayler
  )
• Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989

1990s

• Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd. (No. 2)^[17] per Lord Goff of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords stated in the case the common law
  principle that "[In England] everybody is free to do anything, subject only to the provisions of the law."
• R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Brind [1991] 1 AC 696 concerning the dubbing of voices by any IRA members on television. Anthony Lester QC argued that implied in the Home Secretary's discretion must be an adherence to the ECHR's norms on free expression. This was squarely rejected by the House of Lords (Lord Ackner leading the judgment), and on appeal.
• Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, codified the many restrictions and formalities placed on trade union activity and the right to strike.
  • cf.
    Wilson v United Kingdom (2002) 35 EHRR 523
    , where the Strasbourg Court held that UK legislation must uphold the right of workers to join trade unions and take actions to defend their interests.
• Charter 88, a liberal pressure group which took its name from the Czech Charter 77 and advocated institutional reforms modelled on the United States, was addressed by Labour leader John Smith. He promised a Bill of Rights for Britain.
• The Intelligence Services Act 1994 and the Police Act 1997, included powers to intercept communications.^[18]

• Germany and France
  have their own standards, but all follow and stay conformity with the ECHR. Similarly, the ECHR is drawn from the traditions of every member state, and acts as a method for maintaining minimum standards on which there is general consensus. Despite its controversy, this may be viewed as a uniquely British measure, especially given the fact that the Convention was drafted under the direction of the British government.

• Terrorism Act 2000, extended the limit to 7 days' detention without charge for terrorist suspects. It also allows terrorist organisations to be banned. Sixty groups have to date been outlawed. The Act also introduced a broad definition of "terrorism" under s.1. The stop and search powers in the Act were used to search protesters at an arms trade fair in Canary Wharf, including a Ph.D. student and a journalist who took legal action as a result. The police action was held to be lawful in R (Gillan) v Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police [2006] UKHL 12.
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, allows the government full surveillance powers of all kinds of communication. The current rate is 30 warrants being issued a week. In the 15 months from July 2005 to October 2006, 2,407 warrants were issued.
• HRA 1998
  .
• Criminal Justice Act 2003, abrogated double jeopardy in cases with "new and compelling evidence".
• A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 17, the majority of the House of Lords decided that the detention without trial under the ATCSA 2001 was discriminatory to non-British nationals, and therefore incompatible under Art.14 ECHR. A declaration of incompatibility was issued under s.4 HRA 1998. Lord Hoffmann was the only dissenting judge to hold that the whole detention without trial idea was incompatible with the right to a trial under Art.6, and that the derogation was unacceptable, because there was no "threat to the life of the nation". He argued strongly that it would be wrong to suggest, with the majority's view that discrimination was the problem, that the government should be allowed to lock up all Britons alike.
• Civil Contingencies Act 2004, allows the government, for an "emergency", to deploy armed forces anywhere in the country during peacetime (cf. Bill of Rights 1689). It also allows property to be sequestrated, for an "emergency" with or without compensation anywhere (cf. Prot. 1, Art.1 ECHR).
• Felony disenfranchisement in the United Kingdom
  was the topic of ECHR cases and political debate between 2005 and 2012.
• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, created an offence of inciting religious hatred and requires advanced notification for protests up to 1 kilometre from Parliament. cf Blum v Director for Public Prosecutions.
• control orders on any British citizen. Anybody suspected of terrorist related activities by the Home Secretary, but without any kind of trial, can be electronically tagged, monitored, be restricted from making phone calls, using the internet, be banned from certain kinds of work, can be restricted from going certain places, have one's passport revoked and be under a duty to report to the police. The control order system was held disproportionate in Secretary of State for the Home Department v JJ [2007] UKHL 45
  . The system was declared incompatible, because there was no derogation. However Lord Brown stated that if a suspect was left with eight hours' liberty a day, then it would have been acceptable.
• Terrorism Act 2006, following the bombings in London on the 7 July, this legislation allows for people suspected of terrorist offences to be detained without charge for up to 28 days. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 had extended the time to 14 days. The government had initially proposed a limit of 90 days, saying this was on the recommendation of the police, and citing support from opinion polls. Opposition among MPs saw the first defeat for the Blair government; the Conservative amendment of 28 days' detention without charge being accepted. The act also created a new offence of "glorifying terrorism".
• Austin v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [2007] EWCA Civ 989, Court of Appeal rejects a charge of false imprisonment and an Art.5 ECHR claim for police holding May Day protestors in Oxford Circus in 2001.
• Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 sought to extend the number of days' detention without charge to 42 days and to allow the Home Secretary to require an inquest to be established without a jury in secret if they deems it to be in the public interest, the interest of an overseas treaty partner or in the interest of national security. David Davis MP, a Conservative politician and Shadow Home Secretary at the time, resigned his parliamentary seat in June 2008 in protest over the proposed extension to detention with charge. His resignation forced a by-election
  , which he contested and won on a civil liberties platform. Neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats stood a candidate. The bill also removed the prohibition on post-charge questioning, gave the police greater powers of property confiscation and gave the police powers to prevented photography in public places.
• The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 repealed the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 prohibitions on protest on parliament square, however, added new restrictions, such as operating amplified noise equipment, erecting tents or using sleeping equipment.
• R v AB and CD (2014) was the first British trial to be held entirely in secret^[19] although some of the restrictions were loosened somewhat by the court of appeal after a legal challenge by The Guardian.^[20]
• The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 expanded electronic surveillance powers of the British intelligence agencies. It permitted bulk collection of communications data and interception of communication data. It requires CSPs (communication service providers) to retain British internet users' internet connection records for one year, which certain government officials have access to without a warrant. CSPs are neither allowed to refuse assistance to police nor are they allowed to disclose a data request. The act also permits police to carry out targeted equipment interference.
• In 2018, the musician
  Criminal Behaviour Order and fitted with a GPS tracker on his leg. He is required to give 24 hours notice to the London metropolitan police before uploading any media and is forbidden from inciting violence, mentioning certain areas of London or making references to certain real-life incidents or people in his music.^[21]
• The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (England only) gave the police powers to force individuals to isolate if they were suspected of having COVID-19.
• The Coronavirus Act 2020 gives the government powers to suspend or limit public gatherings and detain individuals suspected of having COVID-19.

See also

Notes