Public Law Update

LEGAL BASIS FOR WAR

In R (on the application of Gentle and Clarke) v The Prime Minister and others [2006] EWCA Civ 1690 the Court of Appeal considered the government’s refusal to hold an independent inquiry into the legal basis for the war in Iraq.

The applicants were the mothers of British soldiers killed during the Iraq war. They sought a public inquiry to consider the question of whether the invasion of Iraq had been illegal, arguing that the implied obligation in Art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) (right to life) required such an inquiry.

On 26 July 2006 the Court of Appeal had granted permission on the basis that the importance of the issues was a compelling reason why the appeal should be heard (see 156 NLJ 7239, p 1360).

Non-justiciability

Apart from the possible effect of the Human Rights Act 1998, the question of whether the invasion