HRA meaning

Checklist for privacy claims This Checklist for privacy claims pinpoints the principal matters to weigh up when advising a prospective claimant contemplating a misuse of private information claim (privacy claim). It centres on the merits: what the claimant must show to found the cause of action; any defences; limitation and jurisdictional questions; injunctions to stop publication; preservation of documents; regulatory complaint; pre-action conduct; funding and issue of proceedings; and settlement, including Part 36 offers. Read this Checklist alongside Practice Note: Starting a claim for misuse of private information—a practical guide. To anticipate how an opponent might respond to a threatened privacy claim, see also Practice Note: Responding to a claim for misuse of private information—a practical guide. Action Comments Is there a viable privacy claim? The underlying legal right for this cause of action derives from Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998). The ECHR is contained in HRA 1998, Schedule...

Original news Middleton and another v Person Unknown or Persons Unknown [2016] EWHC 2354 (QB) What should IP & IT lawyers take note of? This decision exemplifies a section 12 matter, which generally provokes little dispute. Section 12 was first examined in Cream Holdings Ltd and others v Banerjee and another [2003] EWCA Civ 103, [2003] 2 All ER 318. In Cream, the court affirmed the ‘more likely than not’ test, while preserving a discretion to grant an injunction where declining an interim order pending a full hearing would inflict substantial injustice on a claimant. Practitioners should ensure compliance with HRA 1998, s 12(4). HRA 1998, s 12(4) states: ‘The court must have particular regard to the importance of the…right to freedom of expression and, where the proceedings relate to material which the respondent [to an application for an interlocutory injunction] claims, or’...

Sammut (on his behalf and as administrator of the Estate of Paul Sammut) and others v Next Steps Mental Healthcare Ltd (formerly K Bond Healthcare Ltd t/a Next Steps) and another [2024] EWHC 2265 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The result of the case exposes an anomaly stemming from YL v Birmingham City [2007] UKHL 27, and the subsequent, partial legislative rollback of that ruling’s effect in defined categories of situation across specified cases (originally through section 145 Health and Social Care Act 2008 (HSCA 2008), now replaced by the current provision CA 2014, s 73). In YL, the House of Lords, by a majority, determined that private care home operators and providers delivering community care were not performing a public function for the purposes of HRA 1998, s 6(3)(b). Significantly, the majority drew a distinction between community care and mental health detention; in the latter context, the deployment of special statutory powers of detention was the decisive characteristic, such that the function was ‘of...

R (Tortoise Media Ltd) v Conservative and Unionist Party (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, intervening) [2025] EWCA Civ 673 What are the practical implications of this case? The implications of this ruling are weighty in relation to (i) judicial oversight of unincorporated associations, notably political parties, and (ii) the breadth of access-to-information entitlements demanded by Article 10 ECHR. On the first issue, concerning how courts examine political parties, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the High Court’s non‑interventionist stance. At both the oral permission hearing and before the Court of Appeal, arguments were advanced by Tortoise Media and the Conservative Party about whether the individual chosen to lead the Conservative Party would, as a matter of course, become Prime Minister. That point mattered because the tighter the connection between the Party and the Government, the more persuasive the contention became that the Party was carrying out a public function. That inquiry sat at the heart of the parties’ submissions and framed the court’s analysis. Ultimately, the appellate court maintained...

This Practice Note considers the specific provisions affecting groups who are especially at risk of homelessness and draws on the Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (the Homelessness Code). For further detail on vulnerability when evaluating an individual’s priority need for accommodation, see Practice Note: Homelessness—priority need for accommodation... Local authority duties Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996) provides the statutory scheme for determining whether a person is owed a duty by a local housing authority (LHA) if they are homeless, and, where applicable, what that duty entails. See also Practice Note: Homelessness—assisting the homeless post-3 April 2018...

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (ECHR)—given effect in domestic law by section 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998)—guarantees respect for private and family life. Immigration practitioners must recognise when a client may invoke Article 8 and evaluate the likely prospects of success. This Practice Note sets out the principal practical considerations for immigration practitioners advancing arguments under Article 8 ECHR, including what Article 8 covers and protects, the applicable standard of proof, and how Article 8 is applied to different kinds of application, such as to entry clearance applications, or claims that involve children. This Practice Note does not address pre-2012 Article 8 claims; however, case law that predates the 2012 rules is identified and referred to where it remains relevant and continues to have continuing significance...

In brief The British constitution is uncodified, meaning it does not spring from a single constitutional document or code. It draws on a wide range of written and unwritten sources. Alongside the principal written sources of law in England and Wales—legislation (which has also introduced international and human rights principles into our constitution) and the common law—the constitution also rests on two further unwritten bases within this system: the prerogative, and non-legal constitutional conventions. In addition, on one view the basic or prevailing principle of our constitution, Parliamentary sovereignty, is ultimately grounded in political fact rather than in law. Legislation Legislation is the foremost source of constitutional law. Acts of Parliament may set out detailed constitutional rules, or even pass authority to create them to ministers or to others. Under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, legislation is traditionally regarded as taking precedence over any other form or kind of constitutional rule. For example, statutes providing for constitutional matters include the Bill of Rights 1688, the Act of...

1 The decision is unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act (section 84(1)(c) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002). 1.1 For the purposes of article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), the entry clearance officer’s (ECO) decision is unlawful because it fails to comply with the partner entry clearance requirements in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. 1.1.1 The decision disregards pertinent evidence demonstrating the genuine nature of the relationship, notably extensive telephone contact, photographs, and letters of support from friends and family that were submitted. Paragraph E-ECP.2.6 of the Immigration Rules is met. ...