Question:

With reference to the Human Rights Act 1998 and related case law, evaluate the accuracy (or not) of the following viewpoints expressed in the Conservative Party’s proposals for changing Britain’s human rights laws,  ‘Protecting human rights in the UK’, October 2014, p4.

“Labour’s Human Rights Act undermines the role of UK courts in deciding on human rights issues in this country. Section 2 of the HRA requires UK courts to “take into account” rulings of the Strasbourg Court when they are interpreting Convention rights. This means …. Strasbourg jurisprudence is often being applied in UK law.

Labour’s Human Rights Act undermines the sovereignty of Parliament and democratic accountability to the public. Although the HRA affirms the sovereignty of the UK Parliament over human rights matters, Section 3(1) undermines Parliamentary sovereignty in practice.

This provision requires UK courts to read and give effect to legislation in a way which is compatible with Convention rights, “so far as it is possible to do so”. There are cases in which, due to this rule, UK courts have gone to artificial lengths to change the meaning of legislation so that it complies with their interpretation of Convention rights….even if this is inconsistent with Parliament’s intention when enacting the relevant legislation.”

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes that are being assessed in this assessment are (b), (c), (e) and (f). The learning outcomes are accessible under the ‘about this module’ button on this NILE site.

Your grade will depend on the extent to which you meet these learning outcomes in the way relevant for this assessment.

Word Limits (where appropriate)

The maximum word limit for this assessment is 1,000 words

In accordance with the Assessment and Feedback Policy, as stated in section 4.40 where a submission exceeds the stipulated word limit by more than 10%, the submission will only be marked up to and including the additional 10%. Anything over this will not be included in the final grade for the assessment item. Abstracts, bibliographies, reference lists, appendices and footnotes are excluded from any word limit requirements.

In line with section 4.41 of the same Policy, where a submission is notably under the word limit, the full submission will be marked on the extent to which the learning objectives have been met.

Assessment Support

The face to face workshops on this topic provide an opportunity for formative feedback, feedforward and guidance on this assessment question, the issues it raises and how to address these, as it works through a previous example of a similar question. A week’s workshop contact hours are additionally set aside for student face to face consultation on the assessment. This support is supplemented by individual student consultation on the assessment via individual face to face meetings or via e-mail.

Generic Grading Criteria

You will find the generic grading criteria for achievement at  University Grading Criteria.  Also explained here are the meanings of the various G grades at the bottom of the grading scale.

Assessment Submission

Written work submitted to TURNITIN will be subject to anti-plagiarism detection software.  Turnitin checks student work for possible textual matches against internet available resources and its own proprietary database.  

When you upload your work correctly to TURNITIN you will receive a receipt which is your record and proof of submission.

If your assessment is not submitted to TURNITIN rather than a receipt you will see a green banner at the top of the screen that denotes successful submission.