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22 June 2012 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7519 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights
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The Europe effect

Roger Smith rounds up recent human rights developments

Some may hate it, but Europe (through both the Council of Europe and the EU) plays an increasing role in policy-making both here and elsewhere. Increased travel, more expatriate residence and more international transactions contribute to the growing importance of the European dimension to issues once able to be seen as clearly domestic or obviously foreign.

May: the overt attack

Theresa May continued her vendetta against judicial decisions in immigration cases by announcing that the House of Commons would pass a resolution declaring how it thought Art 8 should be interpreted.

May comments were more than somewhat Delphic: “[The right to family life] is not an absolute right…In the interests of the economy, or controlling migration or public order, those sort of issues, the state has a right to qualify the right to a family life.” She plans a Parliamentary vote on government policy which she expects the judges to “follow and take into account”. She had a threat: “If they don’t we will have

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NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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