The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is the only judicial means of holding the secret services to account but it operates in the shadows with almost no connection to the formal legal system. In this case the Supreme Court has the opportunity to assess whether the decisions
The benefits cap is one of the most controversial policies in recent years and in this case the Supreme Court were given the opportunity to scrutinise the legislation on human rights grounds. In this episode we examine that decision and the approach employed by the
This week we return to Northern Ireland for another case about the Troubles and unfortunately it’s the same old story. More delays and further failures to investigate only provide more cause for resentment and in this case we examine the role that the courts have
The murder of Pat Finucane, a solicitor from Belfast, in 1989 was the result of collusion between British security forces and loyalist terrorists. There has never been a proper inquiry into this death and in this judicial review Finucane’s widow argues that this is a
Wrongful conviction cases and miscarriages of justice are always of great interest to the media as they provide a mystery while simultaneously highlighting failures within our criminal justice system. However not much is made of what happens once the conviction is overturned and the innocent
As Northern Ireland heads into its third year without a government the political situation is rapidly becoming more untenable. Unelected civil servants are making decisions normally reserved for politicians and in this case the Supreme Court considers the limits of their powers.
Plea deals allow public authorities to dispense with cases (that would otherwise be very expensive to run) in a timely and efficient manner. The problem is that this leaves a great deal of discretion to a public authority that can be exercised in an arbitrary
Abortion is a controversial subject in Northern Ireland and is only available in a narrow range of circumstances. This means that a lot of women have to travel to England where they can pay for an abortion. In this judicial review case A had travelled
In a speech to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Lady Hale took the opportunity to talk about the UK constitution and for students currently studying public law the full text is a must-read. The United Kingdom is unusual in the sense that it
In the spring of 1998 a huge step was taken in the Northern Ireland peace process as the Good Friday Agreement was signed by the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland as well a number of political parties based in Northern Ireland. In fact