ABSTRACT
AIMS AND OB ECTIVES This is one of the most important pieces of legislation enacted by Parliament in recent years and the key to understanding why that is, and how it operates, lies in the Council of Europe and the establishment and operation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) discussed in Chapter 2. The first part of this chapter examines the background and considers various reasons why the Convention was not made part of UK domestic law in 1953 when it was ratified by the UK. Growing pressure over the years eventually led to the Convention rights being 'brought home' by the 1998 Act, which came into operation in October 2000; although by virtue of the Scotland Act 1998, they were already operative in Scotland. The chapter goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the Act and how it operates, discussing the substantive sections and schedules together with examples of relevant case law.
