Centre for Tax Law Workshop

University of Cambridge, Centre for Tax Law

Programme & Booking Form for Workshop on Friday 18th February 2011

The Old Kitchens, Queens’ College Cambridge

HUMAN RIGHTS - GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Speaker – Professor David Feldman, QC honoris causa, MA, DCL (Oxon), FBA, FRSA David Feldman, one of the UK’s leading authorities on human rights, civil liberties, constitutional law, and criminal procedure, has been the Rouse Ball Professor of English Law in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge since 2004. He is an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn and is currently the President of the Society of Legal Scholars. In 2000 he was a member of the team of lecturers assembled by the Judicial Studies Board to provide seminars for all members of the judiciary of England and Wales in preparation for the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998. From 2000 until 2004 he was the Legal Adviser to the parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, and from 2002 until 2010 he served as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Vice-President 2006-2009). Before 2000 he taught at the University of Bristol (1976-1992) and the Australian National University (1989), and was the Barber Professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Birmingham between 1992 and 2000 (Dean of Law 1997-2000). He is the author of Civil Liberties and Human Rights in England and Wales (2nd edn., Oxford University Press, 2002), and is the contributing editor of English Public Law (2nd edn., Oxford University Press, 2009).

10.10 Session 1 (50 minutes)

The background to and sources of human rights in UK law • Human rights and fundamental common-law rights before the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) • Fundamental rights in EU law before the Lisbon Treaty: general principles and the Charter of Fundamental Rights • Convention rights and devolution legislation • Making use of human rights before the HRA • The purposes and passage of the HRA • The structure of the HRA

11.15 Session 2 (85 minutes)

The Convention rights and their interpretation and application under the HRA • The rights under the ECHR and the HRA: absolute and qualified rights; derogable and non-derogable rights; implied and express qualifications; positive obligations; justifying interference with rights. • The relationship between the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts • The obligation of public authorities to comply with Convention rights • Limits to the obligation • Reading and giving effect to legislation in a manner compatible with Convention rights • The effect of violating a Convention right

12.40 Lunch

13.30 Session 3 (60 minutes)

Some specific issues • The right to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions • Non-discrimination • Respect for private life • The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Lisbon Treaty, and the UK • Differences between the operation of Convention rights under the HRA and under devolution legislation • Extra-territorial effect of rights • Convention rights, extra-statutory concessions, and administrative discretion

14.45 Session 4 (40 minutes) Open session for questions and discussion

If you would like to attend this workshop please email ctl@law.cam.ac.uk for a booking form by midday Friday 11th February 2011.