Euro court rulings ARE the law, says our top judge

Euro court rulings ARE the law, says our top judge

By Steve Doughty, Daily Mail, Last updated at 12:36 AM on 29th March 2011

No nonsense: Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said that the Human Rights Act meant British judges must follow the decisions set down in Strasbourg, 'no more and no less'

Rulings by the European human rights court are the law of the land in Britain, England’s most senior judge declared yesterday.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said that the Human Rights Act meant British judges must follow the decisions set down in Strasbourg, ‘no more and no less’.

His intervention came at a time of high tension between Westminster and the court in Strasbourg over the right of prisoners to vote.

Last month MPs voted overwhelmingly to reject the demand by European human rights judges that prisoners should have the vote, insisting that it is a matter for Parliament.

But Lord Judge’s opinion will pile pressure on David Cameron to find a compromise.

Lord Judge said in a lecture in Jerusalem yesterday that people were free to attack human rights law in print.

But he said judges have no choice but to follow the instructions of European courts because Labour’s 1998 Human Rights Act made European human rights rules part of British law.

‘The words “human rights” are sometimes described in language which might suggest they stand not for the noblest ideals, but, using polite language, as woolly nonsense,’ he said. But he added that the European human rights convention and decisions by the EU’s Luxembourg-based Court of Justice ‘must be applied whether we judges in the United Kingdom agree with them or not’.

He said: ‘Judges are obliged to apply the legislation enacted by our sovereign Parliament, and the European Communities Act 1972 and the Human Rights Act 1998 are two such Acts. No more and no less.’

Many Tory MPs see the prisoner votes debate as symbolic of the domination of Westminster by undemocratic European institutions.

Advice to the Government from its legal officers suggested that they are free to ignore Strasbourg’s instructions on prisoner voting.

But justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has said that although the human rights court needs reform, Britain must be bound by its decisions.

The Strasbourg judges have given Britain until August to obey their ruling that prisoners should have the vote.

Lord Judge also called in his lecture for newspapers to stop making personal criticism of judges.

He said it was ‘corrosive’ and could undermine public confidence in the judiciary.

Politicians to blame for human rights rulings, says judge

Politicians should stop criticising human rights ruling as they are to blame for tying the hands of courts, the country’s most senior judge signalled yesterday.