R (on the application of Barclay and others) (Appellants) v Secretary of State for Justice and others (Respondents)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2009/0119

Parties

Appellant(s)

Sir David Barclay

Sir Frederick Barclay

Dr Tomaz Slivnik

Respondent(s)

Secretary of State for Justice

Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey

Her Majesty’s Privy Council

Issue

(1) Whether the Reform (Sark) Law 2008, retaining the positions of the Seigneur and Seneschal as unelected members of Chief Pleas, breaches article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'); (2) Whether the prohibition on ‘aliens’ resident on Sark from standing as candidates for election to Chief Pleas breaches article 3 of the First Protocol of the ECHR read alone or in conjunction with article 14; (3) Whether the Human Rights Act 1998 applies to the decisions made by the Respondents because their effect applied to a territory within the jurisdiction of the UK under article 1 of the ECHR as a result of a declaration under article 56 and article 4 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, extending jurisdiction to the Channel Islands.

Facts

Sark is a Crown Dependency with a population of around 600. It is not part of the United Kingdom and its laws must be given Royal Assent, meaning they must be scrutinised by the Privy Council. The Appellants challenged the decision made by the Respondents to approve constitutional reforms in Sark, arguing that these reforms had breached the ECHR.

Date of issue

11 February 2009

Judgment appealed

Judgment details

Judgment date

1 December 2009

Neutral citation

[2009] UKSC 9

Judgment links

Judgment summary

1 December 2009

Appeal

Justices

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