A few items of legal interest

Whilst the impending EU referendum is dominating the news, here are some other items of interest.

1) Excellent BBC Law in Action on history of crimes against humanity and genocide as international crimes. By Joshua Rozenberg.

2) Julie Hambleton - The Justice Gap - The hierarchy of justice: why Yewtree but not the Birmingham bombings?  .... and, it seems, New Inquests have been ordered.    Video - Birmingham pub bombings: Inquests reopened.   For a view that this can only lead to heartache see the article by Chris Mullin - The Guardian 1st June 2016 


My post of 26th November 2014 - The Birmingham Pub Bombings 1974 - another day that should live in criminal infamy.  In that post I looked at the case, the trial, the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, various improvements to the law but cautioned against any complacency that miscarriages of justice cannot occur today.

See also the website Justiceforthe21

In McCaughey [2011] UKSC 20 the UK Supreme Court held (by a 6:1 majority) that, a Coroner holding an inquest must comply with the procedural obligation under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  This applies even where the death occurred prior to the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 (i.e. 2nd October 2000).  The McCaughey case arose from death in 1990 at the hands of British Forces in Northern Ireland.

On the Coroner's decision to resume the inquests see the article by Nageena Khalique QC 1st June 2016. The coroner held that the power to resume the inquest was preserved notwithstanding the changes in legislation between 1974 and 2016. It was held that the inquests were suspended and the requisite power to resume the inquest was preserved by paragraph 8, Schedule 1 of the CJA 2009.

3) The Round-up: Criminal justice close to breaking point - UK Human Rights blog 31st May.

4) Michael Gove's new advisory panel on how to improve the Criminal Justice System - Law Society Gazette 28th May.

5) The secret family courts narrative has a lot to answer for - John Bolch on the Marilyn Stowe blog

6) Here is a useful website by Scoop It! covering Children in Law

7) The Guardian - The conviction of Hissène Habré: Africa points the way