Sample CL4304 Public Law Assignment

CL4304 Public Law Assignment Sample

Assignment Brief
Module credits 30
Assessment period - spring
Assessment value of this piece towards module mark - 100%

Rubric

There are NINE questions in this paper

All questions carry equal marks Answer TWO questions in total

You MUST answer ONE question from Part A (problem questions), and you MUST answer ONE Question from

Part B for assignment help

Word limit the word limit is 1000 words per answer You must combine your answers into one document

SECTION A

THIS QUESTION IS COMPULSORY

1. Section 7 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 2021 (fictitious) provides that ‘it shall be the duty of every library authority to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof’.

Last month, Caster Bridge Library Authority reopened its central library after a period of closure owing to the coronavirus pandemic. ‘Everyone who has been vaccinated against SARS-Cov-2 (the coronavirus at the centre of Covid-19) will be welcomed,’ announced Peter Hardy, the Authority’s head of library services.

Advise:

Dan Morgan is a local journalist and regular user of the library. He was recently refused entry to the library, despite being fully vaccinated against the virus. Morgan wrote to Hardy asking for an explanation, but his request was declined. Morgan suspects that the decision is connected with tweets from his twitter account alleging that Porter breached lockdown rules.

The Casterbridge Butterfly Society has learned that Hardy ordered the destruction of the ‘Frederick Sassoon Special Collection on Butterflies of Africa’, on grounds of the author’s associations with the African slave trade. The Society seeks to preserve this irreplaceable record of natural history for the benefit of the public.

After being approved access to the library, Emily Wing is informed that there is a new membership fee of £1000 a year to borrow books.

Dan Morgan, The Casterbridge Butterfly Society, and Emily Wing seek your advice on grounds and remedies available to them under the judicial review process.

SECTION B

ANSWER ONE QUESTION FROM THIS SECTION

2. ‘Brexit exposed the flaws of the UK’s uncodified constitution, strengthening the case for codification.’

Describe and analyse the case for a written constitution for the UK in light of this statement.

3. ‘The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 strongly separated the judiciary from the legislature and the executive, but the case for doing so is unclear. The 'old system' was not broken.'

Describe and analyse separation of powers under the UK constitution in light of this statement.

4. ‘In continuing to emphasise the reliance on common law constitutional rights the case of Unison [2017] UKSC 51 shows that Dicey’s concept of the rule of law is still highly prominent in the UK constitution.’

Describe and analyse the principle of rule of law within the UK constitution, drawing on cases to illustrate your answer.

5. ‘The concept of Parliamentary sovereignty which has been fundamental to the constitution... means that Parliament can do anything.’ [Lady Hale]

Describe and analyse the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, citing cases to illustrate your answer.

6. ‘UK ministers are being delegated some of the broadest legislative powers ever seen in peacetime.’

Describe and analyse the use of delegated legislation in light of this statement.

7. ‘Welsh devolution has progressed rapidly, to the point that the Parliaments of Cardiff and Edinburgh have broadly similar powers. That is to be welcomed.’

Describe and analyse devolution under the UK constitution in light of this statement.

8. ‘Conventions don’t just fill in gaps in constitutional law they alter the effect of the law itself. The UK constitution relies heavily upon them for its efficient and legitimate operation.’

Describe and analyse the role of conventions in the UK constitution.

9. Describe and analyse the case for reform of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Solution

Section A

Answer to question 1

Introduction

In the given discussion, there will be advice given to Dan Morgan, Caster bridge Butterfly Society, and Emily Wing. The advice would be given to these parties based on the fact that they should be able to have judicial remedies. In the case of Dan Morgan, he is not allowed to use the library even though he is vaccinated. The Caster bridge Butterfly Society has faced the challenge of stopping the demolition of Frederick Sassoon's Special Collection on Butterflies of Africa. Finally, Emily Wing will be advised that she has been informed about a new membership fee of 1000 pounds to borrow books from the library.

Discussion

Advice to Dan Morgan

In the per given case, Dan Morgan, a local journalist and a user of the library has been denied the usage of the library under the grounds of vaccination. However, Dan Morgan has claimed that he has been fully vaccinated and that he has been refused to enter the library because he had alleged Porter to have breached the rules of lockdown. Hence, Dan Morgan has insinuated that since he had alleged Porter, who is likely to be an ally of Peter Hardy, breaking the lockdown rules, he has been refused to use the library services. According to Section 7 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 2021, every library authority has to provide a library service that is not only efficient but also comprehensive to every individual. However, due to Covid-19, the rules have changed, and people are compelled to vaccinate before using the library. Hence, people who are not vaccinated are not allowed. Therefore, if Dan Morgan had not been vaccinated, then refusing him the services of a library could have been understandable. However, he has been vaccinated; therefore, the refusal of Dan Morgan is a breach of the Act. Therefore, Dan Morgan can take three actions to resolve the situation, and the three options have been discussed below:

• Responding to the consultation of the council on the proposals for library services.
• Raising questions at the council meetings.
• Making an official complaint to the Secretary of the State (GOV.UK, 2022).

Since Peter Hardy has refused to explain to Peter Hardy, he should complain to the Secretary of the State and tell him that his refusal to attend the library services can be because of a personal vendetta that Peter Hardy has against him.

Advice to Casterbridge Butterfly Society

According to this case, the Casterbridge Butterfly Society has learned that Peter Hardy has ordered the collapse of the Frederick Sassoon Special Collection on the Butterflies of Africa. The grounds for complaint are that Peter Hardy has claimed that Fredrick Sassoon had an association with the slave trade in Africa. Society seeks to preserve the irreplaceable record because it is a part of history that is very important. Therefore, the records are being kept as a historic site. The Casterbridge Butterfly Society has to claim that natural history records show African history. Even if Frederick Sassoon had associations with the African Slave trades, the historical records would not qualify to be demolished because the records do not concern the association with Frederick Sassoon.

Furthermore, the law for protecting heritage in the UK states that historical sites must be retained and explained. Therefore, the records must be retained. It must be explained. Also, as per the current law in the UK, the people who want to remove a historical place will require planning permission or building consent. However, even if the government has granted the site's demolition, the society to which the records belong will be held questionable (Legislation.gov.uk, 2022). When the Casterbridge Butterfly Society is questioned, they will have to explain how the association of Frederick Sassoon does not necessarily demean the status of the records. There is another method by which the Casterbridge Butterfly Society can prevent demolition. That is to prove that Frederick Sassoon did not have any kind of association with the slave trade in Africa.

Advice to Emily Wing

The given case states Emily Wing, who has applied for the books borrowing services from the library, has been given access. However, after being approved, she has been informed that the new membership will cost 1000 pounds per annum to borrow the books. One thousand pounds per annum is a huge sum of money that might not be accepted from the part of Emily to pay the library for borrowing the books. Considering that Emily Wing was not informed about the fees and after getting access to the library, she was asked to subscribe 1000 pounds per annum to borrow books; she can have a judicial remedy.

As per the memberships provided by British Library, the normal membership fee per annum is 80 pounds, the joint membership fee is 120 pounds, and benefactor member fees is 500 pounds (The British Library, 2022). Therefore, it can be concluded by saying that the library whose access Emily has gotten is charging excess of membership fees. Therefore, giving Emily access before making her aware of the membership fee of 1000 pounds per annum qualifies to be a fraud. The UK library policies tolerate zero fraud policy therefore, Emily Wing should report the incidents to the Action Fraud either on the Action Fraud website or by calling in the number 03001232040 (Actionfraud.police.uk, 2022). The Action Fraud centre is where Emily Wing would receive advice on the scam or the fraud that had taken place with her.

Conclusion

As per the above discussion, it is fair to state that Dan Morgan and Emily Wing would easily get the justice they deserve. However, in the case of Casterbridge Butterfly Society, it might not be the case because it will depend on the intensity to which the society can convince the judiciary about the non-association of Frederick Sassoon with the slave trade in Africa.

Section B

Answer to question 9

Introduction

Human rights act 1998 is the law in the UK promoting the equality and fair treatment of all the people. It includes various rights that need to be followed by all the people. The important principles included are treating all people fairly with dignity, equality, respect, and independence. The government in the UK wanted to take steps regarding protecting human rights and the implementation of the Act led to change in the political and legal system. The main reason for reforming the Human Rights Law in the UK is that the framework had various flaws. There was an increase in the right culture which removed the importance of responsibility toward the individuals and the public. There was a presence of uncertainty in the legal environment and also confusion.

Discussion

Analysis of the case for reform of the Human Rights Act 1998

In the case of Abu Qatada, the person was from Jordan and was arrested and they wanted to send him to Jordan about the case. Still, he was not deported because the human rights act under article 6 stated that the people who argued against him were tortured to speak against him. In another case, Strasbourg Court provides the prisoners the right to vote. The Human Rights Act also aims to support the living instrument to increase the importance of rights and article 8 of the human rights gives a lot of importance to the private and human life. Various conventions are brought in by the Human rights act to protect children from abuse. The Human right act 1998 has all the cases setting up the substantive right listed in the convention. The human right act has made it mandatory for the courts in the UK to take the advice of the European human right for taking all types of decisions, or judgments. In the case of Lourd Tucson, who served as the supreme court judge, the court started considering the earlier decision taken by the court of Strasbourg. Still, it does not apply to all cases and taking the same decision may not be favourable. In the case of the human rights act 1998 it is argued that the people promote the various human rights changes regarding human rights like voting or others but they have not followed and causing harm to others is the main problem. In the case of one human rights case was filed by the prisoner about the community worship and another on medically fit food was not provided all this cost huge legal fees being paid. There are various cases filed with the human rights similarly but some of the cases files wasted the time and found that they were not so this led to the people not trusting the Human rights law. In the case of the Turkish National, there was physical harm caused his appeal was allowed on deportation in consideration of him married to a UK national and has residence under the law article 8 of Human right he was approved his appeal. The main reason for the UK Human right Act to be replaced is to reduce the problems and it is thinking to bring the Bill of Rights in place to replace the old system. The UK has updated the Human right Act and provision in 2020 and analysed if any changes need to be done. It wants to reform the law after analysing all the factors it wants to separate the power of courts and the parliament. It wants to make diverse changes in the legal system. The UK is asking for the point of view of all the nations of the UK to protect the rights of humans and have diversity in the formulation of decisions. The UK government has promised to consider all the responses that will be given. The human rights laws established in 1998 are a bit old and now require the application of common sense to be faithful and follow human rights principles. The replacement of human rights, which is the Bill of Rights, will help protect the right of humans and the right to life, which are the fundamental rights. The Human right Act is considered to function better today than before because before people had to take all their cases to the Strasbourg court only but today the people can take their cases to other courts as well. The Act of human rights is set by respecting the parliament as well. The court started the review of human rights in the year 2020. The various cases can be filed with the Human Right Act against government organizations, police, or others for treatment in an unfair manner, violating human rights. These rights are not only for the people of UK citizens but they also apply to all the people whether their citizens of the UK or not. The human rights laws have European conventions to be followed by the courts while giving the judgments about the various types of cases. The judges of the court need to decide according to conventions and it will be unlawful if any public authorities do not follow the conventions.

Conclusion

The Human rights act established in the UK and came into force in the year 2000 was mainly to make sure that the various authorities, the public, central, or the local government, try to protect the human rights of all the people leaving in the UK. This reform has helped the various individuals approach the UK court and fight against human rights. The human rights act does not come under the control of any political party and has over 16 human rights. Human rights apply to all people including children and it has become successful in the UK as it has a positive impact on all the people living in the UK. The Human rights law has brought into practice the rights which are included European human rights conventions into the domestic laws the government is in a plan to introduce the Bill of Rights as the replacement for Human rights law.

References

(Actionfraud.police.uk, 2022) <https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/contact-us> accessed 27 May 2022

Boyle, K. and Cochrane, L., (2018): The complexities of human rights and constitutional reform in the United Kingdom: Brexit and a Delayed Bill of Rights: Informing (on) the Process. Nw. UJ Int'l Hum. Rts., 16, p.22.

Caudwell and McGee (2018): From promotion to protection: Human rights and events, leisure and sport. Leisure studies, 37(1), pp.1-10.

Collins. H. (2021): An emerging human right to protection against unjustified dismissal. Industrial Law Journal, 50(1), pp.36-69.

Fairclough. Thomas (2019): The Human Rights Act 1998 in Constitutional Context: The Common Law, The Rule of Law, and Human Rights." Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 2019.

'Libraries As A Statutory Service' (GOV.UK, 2022) <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-libraries-as-a-statutory-service/libraries-as-a-statutory-service> accessed 27 May 2022

'Library Membership' (The British Library, 2022) <https://www.bl.uk/membership#> accessed 27 May 2022

Lima, V. and Gomez, M., (2019): Access to Justice: Promoting the Legal System as a Human Right. In Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (pp. 1-10). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

'National Heritage Act 1983' (Legislation.gov.uk, 2022) <https://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1983/47> accessed 27 May 2022

Wolfsteller, R., (2020): Out of sync: The failed translation of international human rights in the creation of the UK Human Rights Act. Journal of Human Rights, 19(3), pp.325-343.