Riz Ahmed on liberty

Is he right?

Airedale NHS Trust v Bland

In 1991 there was a disaster at Hillsborough football ground during the F.A. cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

96 people died as a result. The Taylor Report found that the deaths were caused by a failure of police control when they opened a gate to allow thousands of fans into an already-full terrace. Fans were crushed against the fences at the front of the terrace, which had been put there to prevent hooliganism.

One of the victims of this tragedy was Anthony Bland, who sustained severe crush injuries including crushed ribs and two punctured lungs, leaving him in a persistent vegetative state. He was 18 at the time. Although he could not see, hear or feel anything, his brain was still functioning. The doctors were of the opinion that Anthony would not recover.

The doctors , together with Anthony's parents, applied to court for a ruling that the doctors would not be guilty of murder if they stopped feeding him.

This was a new situation, which required the judges to create an original precedent. The judges reasoned by analogy. They decided that the feeding tube was effectively medical treatment which was no longer working. They confirmed that they would not find the doctors guilty if they stopped this "treatment".

You can read the full judgment in this case here.

Have a look at the Hillsborough Justice Campaign site too.

Labour peer jailed for dangerous driving

What IS going on with the House of Lords at the moment?

At least this case confirms the rule of law - even life peers like Lord Ahmed are not above the law.

On the other hand, he only got 12 weeks and his conviction was not related to being involved in a fatal crash, but to sending long text messages to a journalist earlier on the same journey. The last text was sent only two minutes before the crash - I wonder whether he was still looking at his phone? How the mighty are fallen...

It's not been a great few weeks for the reputation of the upper House. Should we keep it or bin it? What do you think?

Debbie Purdy loses euthanasia appeal

Although Debbie Purdy lost her appeal to try to force the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue clear guidelines on when someone assisting another to commit suicide will be prosecuted, the Lord Chief Justice did indicate that the courts are likely to throw any such prosecution out.

He also stated that it was not for judges to issue guidance on this, but up to parliament. AS students - this is an example of judges being wary of setting precedents on important issues that they consider best left to our elected representatives.

Gordon Brown has said that he will not change the law - so at present, any person in such an incredibly difficult situation will have to rely on hints made by a judge rather than clear guidance from the DPP or a change in the law.

Precedent in Action!

We will shortly be studying Judicial Precedent as a Source of Law.

Some areas of our law originate entirely from judicial precedent (law made by judges). One example of this is the law of negligence, much of which can be traced back to the landmark decision in Donoghue v Stevenson made by the House of Lords in 1932. In this case, Mrs Donoghue found a snail in her bottle of ginger beer. It made her ill, so she sued the manufacturer, claiming they owed her a duty of care - previously a concept limited to only a few areas such as road accidents.

The ratio decidendi in a case refers to the reason for the decision; that part of the judgment that creates a binding precendent that all other judges from equal or lower courts must follow.

In Donoghue, the ratio can be found in Lord Atkin's judgment, and in particular in the following passage:

"You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.

Who, then, in law is my neighbour?

The answer seems to be - persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question."

This principle has been followed in hundreds of subsequent cases. The concept of a duty of care now extends to lawyers and their clients, doctors and their patients, and so on.

For example, this week the accountancy firm Moore Stephens is being sued for damages of £117 million for negligence, as it is alleged they did not audit a company properly which then went bankrupt.

Also. the NHS is expected to pay out £700 million in negligence payments to claimants in 2009 -all because of a snail in a bottle of ginger beer in 1928!

The Taxpayers' Alliance

...are a very successful pressure group.

For the effect a well-organised and well-funded group can have, read Polly Toynbee's critical article here.

Question: do the Taxpayers' Alliance really represent all taxpayers, or just those of a certain political view?

By the way - anyone who has done Bad Science in General Studies will recognise some of the statistical tricks the Taxpayers' Alliance seem to use!

There is also a clear link here to the role of the media in influencing the law - some newspapers consistently give the TPA coverage (look at all the Daily Mail stories quoting them, for example) allowing them to influence voters - which is just what pressure groups are for, whether you agree with their politics or not!

Great article here on how a group far to the right of the Tories manage to get so much publicity - three articles a day in the national press, compared to only a few per year achieved by the opposing Tax Justice Network...

Finally, have a look at the alternative "Real" Taxpayers' Alliance for a different view!

Prison staff "to blame" for prisoner's death?

A truly shocking story in The Times today.

A Coroner's Court jury found that a prisoner at Rye Hill Prison in Warwickshire was allowed to hang himself in a prison staff where staff were not being properly trained and were not experienced enough.

This despite the prisoner's mother alerting staff to marks on the prisoner's neck on a previous visit to her son. He had been exhibiting some strange, troubled behaviour before his suicide.

Thinking point: what are the possible consequences of allowing private companies, which exist to make a profit, to run prisons? The prison in this case was run by Group 4 Securicor which has a chequered history in relation to their prisons.

Thinking point 2: is prison the right place for mentally ill convicts? Is prison picking up some of the slack from the closure of many mental health hospitals over the years? Read a report into suicide in prisons here.

This case is also an example of the use of juries in the Coroner's Court.

Inquest, a pressure group, has called for proper treatment for mentally ill inmates.

Privity of Contract

A2 students - Justin Santiago has recently posted on privity of contract here. Please read the article and make notes of the key points for next week.

Pressure Groups

...are one of the influences on law reform. Here are some examples:

Fathers 4 Justice - Father's rights
Liberty - Human rights and individual freedom
Amnesty International - Human Rights
Plane Stupid - Climate Change
Mothers Against Violence - does what it says on the tin
Stonewall -Gay, Lesbian and Transgender equality
Countryside Alliance - Campaigns on rural issues
Greenpeace - the environment
The Fawcett Society - campaigns for sexual equality

TASK for AS Group W2 (Monday Am, Thurs PM class): Write 150 words outlining the aims of one of these groups. What changes to the law would they like to see?

Email your answer to Mr Howells in time for the start of the next lesson...

Also, have a look at the BBC's documentary on Fathers 4 Justice below:

Teacake "not a biscuit" shocker!

Believe it or not, this issue has been at the heart of a multi-million pount VAT dispute between the taxman and Marks & Spencer.

Story here on Sixthformlaw's blog!

Law Maker

Play this game - can you steer a piece of legislation through Parliament?

There are three different scenarios for you to have a go at - do you have what it takes to be a legislator?

Snow

It's so snowy down in ThatLondon that the Crown Court is not sitting today.

Whereas hardworking Loreto College students are in and studying!

Judges, eh?

Picture: York Magistrates Court covered in snow (ok ok, this was 2006...)

Government can fix a prisoner's release date, not the courts!

So says this story from the Times, reporting the case of R (Black) v Secretary of State for Justice (2009). However one of the Law Lords, Lord Phillips (the Lord Chief Justice, no less), disagreed.

Article 5.4 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that a detained person has the right to have the lawfulness of that detention determined by a court.

Despite this the Court ruled that the executive (in the shape of the Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, pictured) can decide the release date of a prisoner if it wants to.

Read the full judgment here.

Two questions:

1. Can this be argued to be contrary to the idea of separation of powers?
2. Might the Secretary of State for Justice take decisions in a politically biased way?

Law teachers...

Have a look at Law-exchange - a new site for law teachers to upload and share resources including videos, worksheets, lesson ideas, HotPotatoes and more!

The site is in its early stages at present, so why not visit and upload a resource or two to help things get moving. If you want to see what can be done, look at www.psychexchange.co.uk for inspiration!