16. The Civil Rights and Responsibilities of the People in the uk

The rights and responsibilities of the people in every state are guaranteed by the Constitution of the state. A constitution is a body of rules governing the affairs of an organized group. The rules spelled out in the constitution are considered to be basic, until they are modified according to an appropriate procedure, all other rules must conform with them.

Every political community, and thus every national state, has a constitution, which may contain more than the definition of the authorities endowed with powers to command. It may also include principles that delimit those powers in order to secure against them fundamental rights of persons or groups.

The theory of the rights of the individual was a potent factor in reshaping the constitutions of Western states in the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries. The first step was made by England at the time of the Glorious Revolution (1688).

Today, almost all states have constitutional documents describing the fundamental organs of the state, the ways they should operate, and, usually, the rights they must respect and even sometimes the goals they ought to pursue.

Constitutions may be written or unwritten; they may be complex or simple. The constitution of Great Britain is unwritten, there is no a formal document called the Constitution. In fact, however, many parts of the British constitution exist in written form. The British Constitution includes the Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Settlement (1700-01), the Parliament Act of 1911, the successive Representation of the People acts (which extended the suffrage), the local government acts, and many others. These are not ordinary statutes, even though they were adopted in the ordinary legislative way, and they are not codified within the structure of a single orderly document.

Constitutions, written or unwritten, must be distinguished according to whether they are ‘rigid’ or ‘flexible’. Rigid are those constitutions at least some part of which cannot be modified through the simple procedure by which statutes are enacted. Great Britain has a flexible Constitution because all of its constitutional institutions and rules can be abrogated or modified by an act of Parliament.

As the UK does not have a written Constitution as part of its national law, people there had long enjoyed a strong tradition of individual liberties but it had not always been easy to say precisely what was involved - or what to do when unwritten liberties conflicted with other laws.

The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), is a binding international agreement that the UK helped to draft and has sought to comply with for half a century.

Since coming into force on 2 October 2000, the Human Rights Act has made rights from the ECHR (the Convention rights) enforceable in the UK courts. And the Act gave people a clear legal statement of their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. The key principle of the Act is that wherever possible there should be compatibility with the Convention rights.

Most of the rights in the ECHR have been included in the Human Rights Act. Each right is set out under a separately numbered paragraph of the ECHR, known as an Article. The first part of these Articles sets out the right and is followed by a second part describing how the right may need to be limited. At the end of each Article, there are suggestions as to how the right may be relevant to individuals.

How Does The Human Rights Act Work?

First, it requires all legislation to be interpreted and given effect as far as possible compatibly with the Convention rights.

Second, it makes it unlawful for a public authority to act incompatibly with the Convention rights.

Third, the UK courts and tribunals must take account of Convention rights in all cases that come before them. This means, that they must develop the common law compatibly with the Convention rights. They must take account of Strasbourg case-law.

Under the Human Rights Act ‘the Convention rights’ means the rights and freedoms set out in Articles 2 to 12 and 14 of the Convention, Articles 1 to 3 of the First Protocol, and Articles 1 and 2 of the Sixth Protocol.

There are the Convention rights set out in the Human Rights Act:

Article 2 Right to Life

Article 3 Prohibition of Torture

Article 4 Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour

Article 5 Right to Liberty and Security

Article 6 Right to Fair Trial

Article 7 No Punishment without Law

Article 8 Right to Respect for Private and Family Life

Article 9 Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion

Article 10 Freedom of Expression

Article 11 Freedom of Assembly and Association

Article 12 Right to Marry

Article 14 Prohibition of Discrimination

The First Protocol

Article 1 Protection of Property

Article 2 Right to Education

Article 3 Right to Free Elections

The Sixth Protocol

Article 1 Abolition of the Death Penalty

Article 2 Death Penalty in the Time of War

The Act does not restrict any existing rights that an individual might have under the UK law or his right to bring proceedings under existing law.

Questions:

1. Is the Constitution of Great Britain written or unwritten?

2. What documents does the British Constitution include?

3. Is the British Constitution ‘rigid’ or ‘flexible’?

4. When were British people given a clear legal statement of their basic rights and freedoms?

5. What is the key principle of the Human Rights Act?

6. How does the Human Rights Act work?

7. Are there the Convention rights set out in the Human Rights Act?