ABSTRACT
Before the Act the courts could only give indirect effect to the Convention (eg where an Act of Parliament was ambiguous (R v Home Secretary, ex parte Brind [1991] 1 AC 696)), and they could not apply Convention rights where the domestic law did not recognise that right (Malone v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1979] Ch 344 – an individual could not claim that telephone tapping was in violation of Art 8 of the Convention, guaranteeing the right to private life).
