'Public authority': generous interpretation
Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is intended to give effective domestic protection to convention rights as defined in and scheduled to the 1998 Act. It is accordingly appropriate to give a generously wide scope to the expression 'public function' in s 6(3)(b), as Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead observed in Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank [2003] UKHL 37 at [11], [2003] 3 All ER 1213 at [11], [2004] 1 AC 546.2. Quoted with approval by Lord Bingham in YL (by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor) v Birmingham City Council and others [2007] UKHL 27, (Transcript)):23.
Categories: Chapter 2, Updates