HUMAN RIGHTS ACT

Human Rights Act 1998



Human Rights Act 1998

Introduction

Law and defined rules are important to defend the population against illegal and unfair acts. UK has no written constitution and people of UK are free to perform those activities which are not forbidden by the law. In 1998, European Parliament released Human Rights Act which was implemented in UK as an act and was started to implement in 2000. The purpose of this paper is to look at the extent of the application of Human Rights Act 1998 within the legal system of UK. Firstly, the paper describes the Human Rights Act 1998 followed by the explanation of how this act is incorporated within the provision of the European Convention on Human Rights into the UK legal system (Donald & Gordon & Leach, 2012).

Basically, there are three types of rights defined by the Human Rights Act 1998, which are as follows. Absolute rights are those which are no restricted in any circumstances. In article 2, the right to life is stated as absolute type of right whereas in article 3 the freedom from torture and degrading treatment is considered as absolute type of right. Therefore, it can be said that highest type of convention right which has to be respected by everyone and nobody can go against is the absolute right. The convention rights are incorporated into the domestic law with the effectiveness of HRA 1998 in October 2000. This act is important for the human rights protection and therefore, holds crucial position and increment in individual rights. It has a basic importance in the UK law. The status of Human Rights can be seen how ECHR was uncalculated in the UK law.

Limited rights are those which rights are limited by provisions as specified by the article or where the government can easily enter derogation by imposing a restriction of certain rights in times of public emergency or war. In article 8, the right to respect for the family life and privacy is considered as the qualified type of right whereas in Article 9, the freedom of conscience, thoughts and religions is the qualified type of right. Qualified rights are those which can be interfered within the limitations for the protection of the rights of public interest or individuals.

Main provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998

Human Rights Act 1998 came into force on 2nd October, 2000. In the section 1, the rights are contained related to the ECHR which are legally enforceable within the country. Section 2 of Human Rights Act 1998, considering the human rights issue the UK courts must take the relevant discussions abiding to the European Court of Human Rights. Section 3 of the Human Rights Act requires that the interpretation of the required laws be done according to the human rights. According to section 4 of HRA, if a law cannot be interpreted according to the compliance of human rights then it must be given declaration of ...