ABSTRACT
The European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into the law of Scotland and Northern Ireland by their respective devolution Acts, and that of the United Kingdom (UK) as a whole under the terms of the Human Rights Act 1998, is in its origins and provisions very much a product of the world as it was in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The Council of Europe therefore agreed to create a framework of basic rights applicable to all individuals, and a structure by which these could be enforced against governments. Article 19 of the Convention provides for the creation of a European Court of Human Rights, to adjudicate on allegations of breach of Convention rights, and a European Commission on Human Rights, to decide first on the admissibility of applications made to the Court and to investigate the allegations and report on them in detail.
