Judgments - In re McKerr (AP)
(Respondent) (Northern Ireland)
HOUSE OF LORDS
SESSION 2003-04
[2004] UKHL 12
on appeal from:
[2003] NICA 1
OPINIONS
OF THE LORDS OF APPEAL
FOR JUDGMENT IN THE CAUSE
In re McKerr (AP) (Respondent) (Northern Ireland)
ON
THURSDAY 11 MARCH 2004
The Appellate Committee comprised:
Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead
Lord Steyn
Lord Hoffmann
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
HOUSE OF LORDS
OPINIONS OF THE LORDS OF APPEAL FOR JUDGMENT
IN THE CAUSE
In re McKerr (AP) (Respondent) (Northern Ireland)
[2004] UKHL 12
LORD NICHOLLS OF BIRKENHEAD
My Lords,
- This is a test case. It arises out of the absence of
adequate public investigations into some fatal shootings in Northern Ireland
over 20 years ago. This particular case relates to the death of Mr Gervaise
McKerr. His son Jonathan seeks an order compelling the Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland to hold an effective investigation into the circumstances of
his father's death. He bases his claim primarily on the provisions of the
Human Rights Act 1998 even though his father died many years before the Act
came into force. He also advances a claim based on the common law.
The deaths
- Gervaise McKerr died on 11 November 1982. He was
driving a Ford Escort car in East Lurgan with two passengers, Eugene Toman and
Sean Burns. All three men were shot dead by members of a unit of the Royal
Ulster Constabulary. Many of the facts surrounding the deaths are disputed.
But it seems clear that the men were not armed and that over 100 rounds were
fired at the car.
- This was not an isolated incident. Two further fatal
shooting incidents occurred soon afterwards, both involving the RUC in County
Armagh. On 24 November 1982 Michael Tighe was shot dead and Martin McAuley
seriously wounded. On 12 December 1982 Peter Grew and Roderick Carroll were
shot and killed. These six fatal shootings occurred amid allegations that some
members of the RUC were operating a shoot-to-kill policy against suspected
terrorists.
- Currently nine cases, including proceedings brought
by the next of kin of Eugene Toman and Sean Burns, are pending in the courts
of Northern Ireland awaiting the outcome of this appeal. In addition numerous
requests have been made to the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions
of Northern Ireland for new investigations into deaths involving the police or
security forces many years ago. This surge of activity has been prompted by
four judgments given by the European Court of Human Rights in May 2001 and the
government's response to them.
The investigations
- The issues arising on this appeal before your
Lordships are points of law. But I must first summarise briefly the protracted
history of the steps taken by the United Kingdom authorities to investigate
the circumstances of the death of Gervaise McKerr. A fuller record can be
found in the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in McKerr v
United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 20, paras 11-61. The history extends over
twelve years, from November 1982 to September 1994, and falls essentially into
three parts. First, criminal proceedings: one police officer was charged with
the murder of Eugene Toman, a passenger in the car when the shooting occurred,
and two other police officers were charged with aiding, abetting, counselling
and procuring the officer to commit that offence. The trial took place between
29 May 1984 and 5 June 1984. At the end of the trial all three officers were
acquitted on the direction of the judge.
- Second, a police investigation was conducted,
initially by John Stalker, then Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater
Manchester Police Force, and thereafter by Colin Sampson, Chief Constable of
the West Yorkshire Police. An interim report was followed by a lengthy final
report presented in three sections, in October 1986, March 1987 and April
1987. On 25 January 1988 the Attorney General made a statement in Parliament
in which he said that in the public interest no prosecutions would result from
the Stalker/Sampson reports.
- Third, at the conclusion of the criminal trial an
inquest was opened by the Armagh coroner on 4 June 1984. It was subsequently
adjourned to await completion of the Stalker/Sampson investigation and because
of two sets of judicial review proceedings. Both sets of proceedings came to
your Lordships' House: see McKerr v Armagh Coroner [1990] 1 WLR 649 and
R v Attorney General for Northern Ireland, ex p Devine [1992] 1 WLR
262. The inquest resumed in May 1992 but was adjourned again later in the same
month. On 31 January 1994 the inquest was closed and the jury discharged. The
inquest was re-opened on 22 March 1994. The coroner said the public had a
proper interest in knowing whether any further relevant evidence had come to
light. On 5 May 1994 the Secretary of State issued a public interest immunity
certificate stating that disclosure of the Stalker/Sampson report would cause
serious damage to the public interest. On 8 September 1994 the coroner
abandoned the re-opened inquest. He could no longer hope to achieve his
purpose in re-opening the inquest.
The application to Strasbourg
- Meanwhile on 7 March 1993 Gervaise McKerr's widow
lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights. After her death
the application was continued by Mr Jonathan McKerr. The applicant invoked
article 2 of the Convention. He alleged that his father had been unjustifiably
killed and that there had been no effective investigation into the
circumstances of his death. This application proceeded simultaneously with
three others, two of which concerned deaths at the hands of the security
forces and the third an allegation of police complicity in a murder by
paramilitaries.
- The court gave its judgment in all four cases on 4
May 2001. In the McKerr case the court made no finding on the lawfulness or
proportionality of the use of lethal force which killed Gervaise McKerr. Nor
did the court reach any conclusions on the circumstances, including Gervaise
McKerr's own activities, which led up to the killing. But the court found that
the various investigatory proceedings disclosed a number of shortcomings.
These included: lack of independence of the investigation carried out by the
RUC; lack of public scrutiny and information to the victim's family concerning
the independent (Stalker/Sampson) investigation, including lack of reasons for
the failure to prosecute any police officer for perverting or attempting to
pervert the course of justice; the inquest procedure did not allow verdicts or
findings which might play an effective role in securing prosecutions in
respect of any criminal which might be disclosed; no advance disclosure of
witness statements at the inquest; the PII certificate had the effect of
preventing the inquest examining matters relevant to outstanding issues; the
police officers who shot Gervaise McKerr could not be compelled to attend the
inquest as witnesses; the inquest proceedings did not start promptly, and
neither they nor the Stalker/Sampson investigation proceeded with reasonable
expedition.
- The court held unanimously that article 2 of the
Convention had been violated by failure to comply with the obligation,
implicit in article 2, to hold an effective official investigation when an
individual has been killed by the use of force: see (2002) 34 EHRR 20, paras
157-161. The court awarded Mr Jonathan McKerr £10,000 as just satisfaction in
respect of the frustration, distress and anxiety he must have suffered. A
finding of violation was not sufficient compensation.
- The government duly paid the sum awarded. In
response to the judgment the United Kingdom also presented a package of
proposals to the committee of ministers of the Council of Europe. Under
article 46(2) of the Convention the committee of ministers has responsibility
for supervising execution of the judgment of the court. This includes
considering what are the practicable steps a state should be required to take
in order to make good the violations found by the court: see Finucane v
United Kingdom (2003) 37 EHRR 29, para 89. The government's package did
not include any proposal to carry out a further investigation into the death
of Gervaise McKerr. The government's stance is that, subject to any ruling of
the courts, it does not propose to take any steps to hold a further
investigation. The committee of ministers has not yet ruled on the adequacy of
the government's proposals as an effective implementation of article 2.
The present proceedings
- Mr Jonathan McKerr was not disposed to accept this
as an adequate governmental response to the judgment of the European Court of
Human Rights. The government ought to fulfil its obligation under article 2 of
the Convention and remedy the deficiencies in the investigations so far
undertaken into his father's death. Armed with the rights newly afforded him
by the Human Rights Act, Mr McKerr sought the assistance of the court in
compelling the government to conduct an effective investigation, in the form
of a further coroner's inquest. On 30 January 2002 he commenced these judicial
review proceedings. The relief claimed comprises (a) declarations that the
Secretary of State's continuing failure to provide an article 2 compliant
investigation is unlawful and in breach of section 6 of the Human Rights Act
1998 and article 2 of the Convention, (b) a mandatory order compelling the
Secretary of State to conduct an article 2 compliant investigation and (c)
damages.
- On 26 July 2002 Campbell LJ dismissed the
application. The Human Rights Act 1998 did not have retrospective effect. But
the obligation to hold a proper investigation into a pre-Act death continued
until either the obligation was fulfilled or a competent court vindicated the
right in some other way. In the present case the continuing obligation to hold
an investigation compliant with article 2 came to an end when the European
Court of Human Rights made a finding of violation of article 2 and ordered
payment of just satisfaction to Mr Jonathan McKerr.
- Mr Jonathan McKerr appealed, and on 10 January
2003 the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal. Carswell LCJ delivered the
judgment of himself and McCollum LJ and Coghlin J. The court agreed with
Campbell LJ that the obligation to hold an investigation which complied with
the requirements of article 2 was a continuing one. Counsel for the Secretary
of State did not seek to uphold the judge's view that payment of compensation
automatically brought the article 2 obligation to an end. Counsel contended
that once just satisfaction had been awarded and paid, Mr Jonathan McKerr was
no longer a 'victim' within section 7 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and
accordingly he could not complain of any breach of the continuing obligation.
The Court of Appeal rejected this argument. The court made a declaration that
the government has failed to carry out an investigation complying with article
2. The court considered it inappropriate to grant any other relief because the
committee of ministers had not yet ruled on the proposals made to them by the
United Kingdom government. From that decision the Secretary of State appealed
to your Lordships' House.
Retrospectivity
- The primary contention advanced by the Attorney
General on behalf of the Secretary of State was not advanced in the courts
below. In short, the Attorney General submitted to your Lordships' House that
section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is not applicable to deaths occurring
before the Act came into force on 2 October 2000. I shall consider this
submission first.
- It is now settled, as a general proposition, that
the Human Rights Act is not retrospective. The Act itself treats section 22(4)
as an exception. This general proposition, however, raises almost as many
questions as it answers. Past events have continuing effects. For instance,
agreements made before the Human Rights Act came into force will often
generate obligations requiring performance after 2 October 2000. Some of the
problems to which this gives rise were considered by your Lordships' House, in
the context of sections 3 and 4 of the Act, in Wilson v First County Trust
Ltd (No 2) [2003] UKHL 40, [2003] 3 WLR 568.
- In the present case the question of
retrospectivity arises in the context of section 6 of the Act and article 2 of
the Convention. It arises in this way. Section 6 of the Act creates a new
cause of action by rendering certain conduct by public authorities unlawful.
Section 7(1)(a) provides a remedy for this new cause of action. A person who
claims a public authority is acting in a way made unlawful by section 6(1) may
bring proceedings against the authority if he is a victim of the unlawful act.
Thus, if the Secretary of State's failure to arrange for a further
investigation into the death of Gervaise McKerr is unlawful within the meaning
of section 6(1), these proceedings brought by his son fall squarely within
section 7; if not, not.
- So the key question is whether the government's
failure to hold a further investigation in this case is conduct which is
prohibited by section 6(1). Section 6(1) makes it unlawful for a public
authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a 'Convention right' as
defined in the statute. An act includes a failure to act. The relevant
Convention right is article 2. Article 2 of the Convention concerns the most
fundamental right of all: the right to life. The sanctity of life is a
principle which finds expression in all civilised societies throughout the
world. Article 2 provides:
'(1) Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one
shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a
sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this
penalty is provided by law.
(2) Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in
contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is
no more than absolutely necessary:
(a)in defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b)in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape
of a person lawfully detained;
(c)in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling riot or
insurrection.'
- This article expressly imposes a positive
obligation on the state to protect everyone's life. The state must take
appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of those within its bounds. But the
state's obligation does not stop there. The European Court of Human Rights has
held that by implication article 2 also requires there should be some form of
effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result
of the use of force: see McCann v United Kingdom (1996) 21 EHRR 97 (the
'death on the Rock' case), and McKerr v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 20, para 111. The European Court of Human Rights has described this as a
'procedural' obligation imposed by article 2. The purpose of the investigation
is to secure that domestic laws protecting the right to life are effectively
implemented and, in cases involving state agencies, to ensure those
responsible for deaths are made properly accountable: see Jordan v United
Kingdom (2003) 37 EHRR 2, para 105. The requisites of an investigation, if
it is to fulfil this procedural obligation inherent in article 2, were
considered recently by your Lordships' House in R (Amin) v Secretary of
State for the Home Department [2003] UKHL 51, [2003] 3 WLR 1169.
- Thus article 2 may be violated by an unlawful
killing. The application of section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act to a case of
an unlawful killing is straightforward. Section 6(1) applies if the act,
namely, the killing, occurred after the Act came into force. Section 6(1) does
not apply if the unlawful killing took place before 2 October 2000. So much is
clear.
- The position is not so clear where the violation
comprises a failure to carry out a proper investigation into a violent death.
Obviously there is no difficulty if the death in question occurred post-Act.
The position is more difficult if the death occurred, say, shortly before the
Act came into force and the necessary investigation would fall to be held in
the ordinary course after the Act came into force. On which side of the
retrospectivity line is a post-Act failure to investigate a pre-Act death?
- In my view the answer lies in appreciating that
the obligation to hold an investigation is an obligation triggered by the
occurrence of a violent death. The obligation to hold an investigation does
not exist in the absence of such a death. The obligation is consequential upon
the death. If the death itself is not within the reach of section 6, because
it occurred before the Act came into force, it would be surprising if section
6 applied to an obligation consequential upon the death. Rather, one would
expect to find that, for section 6 to apply, the death which is the subject of
investigation must itself be a death to which section 6 applies. The event
giving rise to the article 2 obligation to investigate must have occurred
post-Act.
- I think this is the preferable interpretation of
section 6 in the context of article 2. This interpretation has the effect, for
the transitional purpose now under consideration, of treating all the
obligations arising under article 2 as parts of a single whole. Parliament
cannot be taken to have intended that the Act should apply differently to the
primary obligation (to protect life) and a consequential obligation (to
investigate a death). For this reason I consider these judicial review
proceedings are misconceived so far as they are sought to be founded on the
enabling power in section 7 of the Human Rights Act.
- I refer briefly to the court decisions on this
point. There have been several cases where everyone concerned appears to have
assumed that section 6 of the Human Rights Act could apply to a failure to
investigate a death which took place before the Act came into force. These
include two decisions of your Lordships' House: R (Amin) v Secretary of
State for the Home Department [2003] 3 WLR 1169
and R (Middleton) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset [2004] UKHL 10. In
none of these cases, so it seems, was this point the subject of argument. So
they do not assist.
- In other cases, where the point has arisen for
decision, differences in judicial view have emerged. In R (Wright) v
Secretary of State for the Home Department [2001] LLR (Med) 478, a case
concerning a death in prison in 1996, Jackson J held the claimants were
entitled to a remedy under the Act in respect of the Secretary of State's
'continuing breach of the procedural obligations under articles 2 and 3' of
the Convention: see paragraph 67. In R (Khan) v Secretary of State for
Health [2003] EWHC 1414 (Admin) Silber J reached a contrary conclusion. He regarded the time
of death as the governing factor. There the death occurred in October 1999. In
Hurst v Coroner for the Northern District of London [2003] EWHC 1721 (Admin), which concerned a death in May 2000, the Divisional Court
disagreed with Silber J. The relevant time was when the decision was made in
relation to the article 2 duty. At that time 'article 2 was part of English
law': paragraph 20. This decision of the Divisional Court was followed by the
Court of Appeal when the Khan case reached that court: see [2003] EWCA Civ 1129. The Human Rights Act had been in force for nearly two years when, in
July 2002, the Secretary of State first denied the parents of the dead child
the relief they were seeking: paragraph 85.
- Having had the advantage of much fuller arguments
I respectfully consider that some of these courts, including the Divisional
Court in the Hurst case and the Court of Appeal in the Khan
case, fell into error by failing to keep clearly in mind the distinction
between (1) rights arising under the Convention and (2) rights created by the
Human Rights Act by reference to the Convention. These two sets of rights now
exist side by side. But there are significant differences between them. The
former existed before the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 and they
continue to exist. They are not as such part of this country's law because the
Convention does not form part of this country's law. That is still the
position. These rights, arising under the Convention, are to be contrasted
with rights created by the Human Rights Act. The latter came into existence
for the first time on 2 October 2000. They are part of this country's law. The
extent of these rights, created as they were by the Human Rights Act, depends
upon the proper interpretation of that Act. It by no means follows that the
continuing existence of a right arising under the Convention in respect of an
act occurring before the Human Rights Act came into force will be mirrored by
a corresponding right created by the Human Rights Act. Whether it finds
reflection in this way in the Human Rights Act depends upon the proper
interpretation of the Human Rights Act.
The 'victim' point
- Had I reached the contrary conclusion I would not
have accepted the Secretary of State's argument that Mr Jonathan McKerr had no
standing to bring these proceedings because he ceased to be a 'victim' within
the meaning of section 7 of the Human Rights Act once he had been paid the
amount of money awarded by the European Court of Human Rights as just
satisfaction. Mr McKerr was awarded this amount for his frustration, distress
and anxiety over the years. All too obviously he is still not in the position
intended to be achieved by fulfilment of the obligation to hold an effective
investigation into his father's death. Crucial questions remain unanswered. As
already noted, the European Court of Human Rights did not itself decide
whether Gervaise McKerr had been killed by the use of unnecessary or
disproportionate force. Nor did the court decide whether Gervaise McKerr had
been the victim of a shoot-to-kill policy operated by some members of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary.
An overriding common law right?
- Before your Lordships' House Mr Treacy advanced a
further basis for Mr McKerr's judicial review proceedings. He submitted that
the right to an effective official investigation is as much a feature of the
common law as it is of the European Convention. The rationale which underlies
the procedural obligation under article 2 must also underpin the common law.
He relied heavily upon an observation made by Lord Bingham of Cornhill in R
(Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] 3 WLR 1169,
1185, para 30:
'A profound respect for the sanctity of human life underpins the
common law as it underpins the jurisprudence under articles 1 and 2 of the
Convention. This means that a state must not unlawfully take life and must
take appropriate legislative and administrative steps to protect it.'
- This submission, I note in passing, is not being
used as a foundation for a challenge to the lawfulness of the conduct of the
coroner inquiring into Gervaise McKerr's death. For many centuries coroners'
inquests, with their inquisitorial process, have been a primary means employed
in Northern Ireland as well as England and Wales for investigating violent or
unnatural deaths or other deaths requiring investigation. The law provides, in
the form of judicial review, a means whereby the lawfulness of coroners'
decisions can be challenged. In an appropriate case a court may review a
coroner's premature closure of an inquest.
- That is not the route being followed in this case.
In these proceedings Mr McKerr is not challenging any decision of the Armagh
coroner. This is perhaps hardly surprising, given the years which have elapsed
since the coroner closed his inquest into Gervaise McKerr's death. Nor is Mr
McKerr asking the House to interpret the statutory provisions relating to
coroners in a way which would make them compliant with the investigative
requirements of article 2.
- Instead, counsel propounded a separate overriding
common law right corresponding to the procedural right implicit in article 2
of the Convention. He submitted that the Secretary of State is, or should be,
subject to a common law obligation to arrange for an effective investigation
into Gervaise McKerr's death. This obligation would be satisfied by holding a
coroner's inquest which complies with the requirements of article 2. In the
absence of such a right the common law would afford less protection to the
right of life than the Convention. Under section 6 of the Human Rights Act the
court, as a public authority, is obliged to develop the common law in a manner
consistent with Convention rights and Strasbourg jurisprudence.
- I have grave reservations about the
appropriateness of the common law now fashioning a free standing positive
obligation of this far reaching character. Such a development would be far
removed from the normal way the common law proceeds. But I need not pursue
this wider question. The submission fails for more straightforward, orthodox
reasons. The effect of counsel's submission, if accepted, would be that the
court would create an overriding common law obligation on the state,
corresponding to article 2 of the Convention, in an area of the law for which
Parliament has long legislated. The courts have always been slow to develop
the common law by entering, or re-entering, a field regulated by legislation.
Rightly so, because otherwise there would inevitably be the prospect of the
common law shaping powers and duties and provisions inconsistent with those
prescribed by Parliament. R v Lyons [2002] UKHL 44, [2003] 1 AC 976 is
a recent instance where the House rejected a submission having this effect.
- The argument in the present case suffers from the
same flaw. The suggested new common law right is sought as a means of
supplementing, or overriding, the statutory provisions relating to the holding
of coroners' inquests. That is not an appropriate role for the common law.
- This view is confirmed by another feature of the
case. As already emphasised, by enacting the Human Rights Act 1998 Parliament
created domestic law rights corresponding to rights arising under the
Convention. When doing so Parliament chose not to give the legislation
retroactive effect. In relation to article 2 the intention of Parliament, as
interpreted above, was not to create an investigative right in respect of
deaths occurring before the Act came into force. The common law right urged on
behalf of Mr McKerr would accord ill with this legislative intention. The
effect of the propounded right would be to impose positive human rights
obligations on the state as a matter of domestic law in advance of the date on
which a corresponding positive obligation arose under the Human Rights Act.
- These considerations point ineluctably to the
conclusion that the suggested common law right cannot properly be fashioned by
the courts. I would allow this appeal and dismiss these proceedings.
LORD STEYN
My Lords,
- The deliberate killing of individuals under
suspicion of subversive activities by agents of the state is something that
one associates with lawless totalitarian regimes. That is not to say that in
liberal democracies such events cannot occur. The difference between
totalitarian states and democracies lie in their response to a serious
allegation that such targeted killings took place. It would be antithetical to
the nature of a totalitarian state to permit such killings to be investigated.
On the other hand, in modern times liberal democracies have progressively
become ready to undertake investigations in such cases. In the domain of the
European Convention on Human Rights Article 2 spells out a fundamental right
to life, and by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, a
fundamental right of the family of a person killed by agents of the state to
demand that the state must promptly and effectively investigate the
circumstances in which the death occurred.
- In a period of about a month between November and
December 1982, in three separate incidents, six men were shot and killed by
police officers of a special mobile support unit of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary. The killings took place in Armagh. None of the men killed were
armed. One man was shot in the back. There were two trials but none of the
police officers were convicted. The present case relates to Gervaise McKerr
who was shot and killed, with others, on 11 November 1982. A criminal trial of
three police officers resulted in their acquittal. Gervaise McKerr's family
wanted a proper and effective inquest into the circumstances of his death. The
government strongly resisted an investigation.
- On 7 March 1993 an application was lodged with the
E.Ct.H.R. alleging various breaches of the E.C.H.R. On 4 May 2001 the
E.Ct.H.R. unanimously found that there had been a failure to comply with the
procedural obligation implied in Article 2 to investigate promptly and
effectively a case where an individual had been killed as a result of the use
of force: McKerr v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 20.
- The E. Ct. H.R. identified the following concerns
in its decision:
"136 . . . the scope of the criminal trial was restricted to the
criminal responsibility of the three officers. The applicant, relying
inter alia on the Minnesota Protocol, argued that the trial was not
capable of addressing wider concerns about other aspects of official
involvement in the killings. One of these aspects was the deliberate
instructions of a senior officer to the suspects to conceal information from
the investigating officers, which raised doubts as to what other information
or obstruction might have occurred. Another was the fact that there had been
two other incidents in Armagh within a month in which police officers from
the special mobile support units had used lethal force, killing Michael
Tighe on 24 November 1992 and Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll on 12 December
1992, all of whom had been unarmed. A prosecution had occurred concerning
the latter incident and had also resulted in an acquittal. It was alleged
that police officers involved in these incidents had similarly been
instructed to conceal evidence.
137 The Court considers that there may be circumstances where
issues arise that have not, or cannot, be addressed in a criminal trial and
that Article 2 may require a wider examination. Serious concerns arose from
these three incidents as to whether police counter-terrorism procedures
involved an excessive use of force, whether deliberately or as an inevitable
by-product of the tactics that were used. The deliberate concealment of
evidence also cast doubts on the effectiveness of investigations in
uncovering what had occurred. In other words, the aims of reassuring the
public and the members of the family as to the lawfulness of the killings
had not been met adequately by the criminal trial. In this case therefore,
the Court finds that Article 2 required a procedure whereby these elements
could be examined and doubts confirmed, or laid to rest. It considers below
whether the authorities adequately addressed these concerns."
The court concluded that the concerns had not been adequately addressed and
listed the shortcomings of the procedures adopted: para 157. The question
whether there had been a policy to kill individuals suspected of subversion
activities was unresolved. The court concluded that there had been a violation
of the procedural obligation. The court made an award of £10,000 by way of
compensation. This sum has been paid.
- The supervision of the judgment in the present
case is being conducted by the Committee of Ministers pursuant to Article 46
of the E.C.H.R. The outcome is not yet known.
- Reinforced by the judgment in Strasbourg, and
twenty-one years after the death of his father, Mr Jonathan McKerr wants an
effective investigation of the circumstances in which his father died. Despite
the judgment of the E.Ct.H.R., the Secretary of State refuses to permit such
an investigation. The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland found in favour of
the son. The court concluded (para 13):
"We accordingly consider that the appellant's claim is well
founded, that there is continuing breach of Article 2(1) which requires to
be addressed by the respondent Government. Since, however, the Committee of
Ministers has not yet ruled on the proposals made to them by the Government
in respect of the four cases heard by the E.Ct.H.R., we would not regard it
as appropriate to do more than make a declaration. In these circumstances we
propose to allow the appeal and make a declaration that the respondent
Government has failed to carry out an investigation which complies with the
requirements of Article 2 of the Convention, but not to grant any other
relief."
Still resisting any investigation the Government challenges the decision of
the Court of Appeal.
- Mr McKerr's case is crucially dependent on the
applicability of section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998. It provides:
"It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is
incompatible with a Convention right."
The relevant Convention right is Article 2. It provides expressly that
everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. By necessary implication
it places an independent procedural obligation on the state to investigate
promptly and effectively cases where agents of the state cause death by the
use of force. The existence of this implied obligation under Article 2 was
first spelt out by the E.Ct.H.R. in McCann and Others v The United
Kingdom (1995) 21 EHRR 97:
for a review of the subsequent European jurisprudence see Lester and Pannick,
Human Rights Law and Practice, 2nd ed, 2004, 4.2.31-4.2.39 and Mowbray,
The Development of Positive Obligations under the European Convention on
Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights, 2004, 27-40. In order
to have a cause of action under the 1998 Act, Mr McKerr must however have the
status of being a "victim" within the meaning of section 7(1).
- On the facts of the present case, and because Mr
McKerr has received compensation, the Government argues that he lacks the
standing of being a victim. On this simple ground it is said that the door of
the court is closed to him. In my view this argument is wrong. But for the
receipt of compensation Mr McKerr was unquestionably a victim. After all, he
is a son questioning why his father was killed by agents of the state. The
E.Ct.H.R. made the award of compensation on the basis that, due to the
violation of the procedural obligation, the son "suffered feelings of
frustration, distress and anxiety": para 181. In other words, the failure to
carry out an investigation promptly and effectively caused the son mental
suffering and for that an award of compensation was made. The procedural
obligation remains unfulfilled. The state has never conducted a proper
investigation into the death of Mr McKerr's father. The compensation was
plainly not intended by the E.Ct.H.R. to be the price which, if paid, relieved
the Government of its unfulfilled procedural obligation even in circumstances
where such an obligation was still capable of being fulfilled. Nothing in the
judgment of the E.Ct.H.R. supports such an implausible idea. I would reject
this argument.
- It is now necessary to turn to the principal
issues. They are formulated in the Agreed Statement of Facts and Issues as
follows:
"(1) … has the Secretary of State acted or failed to act on or
after 2 October 2000 in a way which is incompatible with the Respondent's
Article 2 Convention rights contrary to Section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act
1998 (the retrospectivity issue)?"
"(2) Does the common law now impose an obligation upon the
United Kingdom Government to hold an effective official investigation into
the circumstances of the Respondent's father's death irrespective of the
Human Rights Act 1998 (the common law issue)?"
Before I consider these legal issues it is necessary to consider a separate
and anterior point which, if meritorious, makes it unnecessary to consider
these important points of law.
- On behalf of the Government the Attorney-General
placed before the House in written and oral submissions an argument that an
effective enquiry is as a matter of fact no longer possible. He referred the
House to the decision of the E.Ct.H.R. in Finucane v United Kingdom
(2003) 37 EHRR 29, and in particular to paragraph 89 of the decision of the
court which reads as follows:
"As regards the applicant's views concerning provision of an
effective investigation, the Court has not previously given any indication
that a Government should, as a response to such a finding of a breach of
Article 2, hold a fresh investigation into the death concerned and has on
occasion expressly declined to do so. Nor does it consider it appropriate to
do so in the present case. It cannot be assumed in such cases that a future
investigation can usefully be carried out or provide any redress, either to
the victim's family or by way of providing transparency and accountability
to the wider public. The lapse of time, the effect on evidence and the
availability of witnesses, may inevitably render such an investigation an
unsatisfactory or inconclusive exercise, which fails to establish important
facts or put to rest doubts and suspicions. Even in disappearance cases,
where it might be argued that more is at stake since the relatives suffer
from the ongoing uncertainty about the exact fate of the victim or the
location of the body, the Court has refused to issue any declaration that a
new investigation should be launched. It rather falls to the Committee of
Ministers acting under Article 46 of the Convention to address the issues as
to what may practicably be required by way of compliance in each case."
The Attorney-General submitted that in this case an effective enquiry is no
longer possible. He submitted that there cannot be a continuing duty to do
something when it is impossible to do it. If this premise is right, I would
accept that it would be the end of the matter under domestic law. The domestic
court, in this case the House of Lords, would not make an order designed to
ensure that a plainly useless enquiry is embarked on. This would be a
sufficient basis for allowing the appeal of the Government. The question is
whether this submission is right. It having been advanced I must deal with
it.
- One would have expected an affidavit from the
state explaining why an investigation is impossible. To such an affidavit I
would have paid the closest attention. There is no affidavit. The strategy has
been to steer clear of the facts. The observations of the Attorney-General
that an enquiry is no longer possible, unsupported by evidence, have no more
weight before the House than that of any other advocate or litigant in this
case who is parti pris. In any event, counsel for Mr McKerr pointed out that
the fruits of police investigations are still in existence; the transcripts of
the criminal trials are available; and there is available the Stalker/Sampson
report consisting of 3609 pages in twenty separate volumes including one album
of maps and photographs. If an inquest were to be held, it would be up to the
coroner to read the latter report and consider whether it should be put in
evidence. So far neither the coroner in Northern Ireland nor any judge
considering the matter has read the report. In Northern Ireland judicial
review proceedings it was held that the report is irrelevant. How one can say,
in advance of studying it, that it is not relevant I do not understand. The
E.Ct.H.R. was clearly sceptical. So am I.
- A subtext of the Attorney General's submission was
the suggestion that there are legal impediments to holding an enquiry. So far
as the Attorney-General said that witnesses would not be compellable, this
problem has been removed by legislation: Coroners (Practice and Procedure)
(Amendment Rules (Northern Ireland) 2002. In the domestic legal system there
is also no impediment to making an order that the inquest should be re-opened:
Leckey and Greer, Coroners' Law and Practice in Northern Ireland, 1998,
15-02; In re McCaughey and Another (Unreported) 20 January 2004, per
Weatherup J., N.I.
- I am not persuaded that on the basis of materials
available an effective investigation of sensible scope is impossible.
- The critical question in this case is, however,
whether the court has jurisdiction to make an order designed to lead to the
investigation of a death which occurred before the 1998 Act came into force.
- The retrospectivity issue now arises. Mr McKerr's
case is founded on section 6 of the 1998 Act. Leaving aside proceedings taken
at the instigation of a public authority, which are not under consideration,
it is now settled law that section 6 is not retrospective: section 22(4) of
the 1998 Act; R v Lambert [2002] 2 AC 545;
R v Kansal (No. 2) [2002] 2 AC 69;
Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No. 2) [2003] 3 WLR 568
(HL). Mr McKerr's father was killed in 1982. The 1998 Act came into force on 2
October 2000. The Court of Appeal held that there is a continuing breach of
Article 2 which requires to be addressed by the Government: para 13. In my
view the Attorney-General has demonstrated that this reasoning cannot be
sustained. The Government may have been in breach of its obligations under
international law before 2 October 2000 to set up a prompt and effective
investigation. But those treaty obligations created no rights under domestic
law, not even after the right to petition to Strasbourg was created by the
United Kingdom Government in 1966. The very purpose of the 1998 Act was "to
bring home rights" which were previously justiciable only in Strasbourg: The
Government White Paper, October 1997 (Cm 3782). That appears, in any event, to
be the consequence of the rule enunciated by the House of Lords in the
International Tin Council case that an unincorporated treaty can create
no rights or obligations in domestic law: J. H. Rayner (Mincing Lane)
Limited v Department of Trade and Industry [1990] 2 AC 418. As Lord
Hoffmann has pointed out this rule has been affirmed by the House in R v
Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] 1 AC 696 and
in R v Lyons [2003] 1 AC 976,
and in particular in the leading judgment of Lord Hoffmann in the latter case:
para 27. The later decisions rest, however, on the pivot of the
International Tin Council decision.
- Since the International Tin Council
decision is regularly cited in our courts, a brief reference to its
reception in subsequent jurisprudential analysis may not be out of place. In
doing so I acknowledge that the point has not been the subject of argument. A
comprehensive re-examination must await another day. But distinguished
commentators have criticised what has been called the narrowness of the
decision in the House of Lords: see the criticism of Sir Robert Jennings in
his 1989 F.A. Mann Lecture ((1990) 39 ICLQ 513, at 524-526); and of Dame
Rosalyn Higgins, "The Relationship between International and Regional Human
Rights Norms and Domestic Law", in Developing Human Rights
Jurisprudence, 1993, Vol. 5, 16-23. The latter writer observed (at 20):
" … international law is part of the law of the land. Some
rights contained in international human rights treaties are not the produce
of inter-State contract, but antedate any such multilateral agreement. The
treaty is merely the instrument in which a rule of general international law
is repeated. It bears repetition in an international instrument, partly
because relatively 'new' rights may also be included, and partly because the
treaty may involve procedural undertaking for the States Parties. But none
of that changes the character of a given right as an obligation of general
international law. Freedom from torture, freedom of religion, free speech,
the prohibition of arbitrary detention, should all fall in that category. As
such - and even were these rights not already secure through a separate
domestic historic provenance - they would be part of the common law by
virtue of being rules of general international law."
There is also growing support for the view that human rights treaties enjoy
a special status: Murray Hunt, Using Human Rights Law in English Courts, 1998,
pp 26-28. Commenting on Lewis v Attorney General of Jamaica [2001] 2 AC 50 Mr Justice Collins commented that "it may be a sign that one day the courts
will come to the view that it will not infringe the constitutional principle
to create an estoppel against the Crown in favour of individuals in human
rights cases": Foreign Relations and the Judiciary 2002, 51 ICLQ 485,
at 497. That is not to say that the actual decision in the International
Tin Council case was wrong. On the contrary, the critics would accept the
principled analysis of Kerr LJ in the Court of Appeal that the issue of the
liability of member states under international law is justiciable in the
national court, and that under international law the member states were not
liable for the debts of the international organisation: see Mr Justice
Lawrence Collins, op cit, at 497.
- The rationale of the dualist theory, which
underpins the International Tin Council case, is that any inroad on it
would risk abuses by the executive to the detriment of citizens. It is,
however, difficult to see what relevance this has to international human
rights treaties which create fundamental rights for individuals against the
state and its agencies. A critical re-examination of this branch of the law
may become necessary in the future.
- That brings me to the common law issue. In a
careful and helpful argument Mr Treacy Q.C. invited the House to hold that the
common law should be developed to recognise a substantive right to life,
coupled with a procedural right co-extensive with that enunciated in 1995 in
McCann. He pointed out that, unlike cases such as Lyons where
there was what he called a legislative "block" in play, there is none in the
present case. This argument has considerable force. The fact that there is no
authority for such a development is not in itself fatal. In R v Chief
Constable R.U.C. ex parte Begley [1997] 1 WLR 1475,
Lord Browne-Wilkinson, in giving the unanimous opinion of the House, observed
(at 1480):
"It is true that the House has a power to develop the law. But
it is a limited power. And it can be exercised only in the gaps left by
Parliament. It is impermissible for the House to develop the law in a
direction which is contrary to the expressed will of Parliament."
Before embarking on such a course the House would have to take into account
that, by and large, the law regarding inquests has been developed in Northern
Ireland by statute: see Leckey and Greer, Coroner's Law and Practice in
Northern Ireland, 1998, passim. Moreover, the House would have to confront
another difficulty. It must be sound principle for a supreme court to develop
the law only when it has been demonstrated that the just disposal of cases
compellingly requires it. Given that the right to life is comprehensively
protected under Article 2 of the Convention as incorporated in our law by the
1998 Act, why is there now a need to create a parallel right to life under the
common law? Given that the procedural obligation under Article 2 is
comprehensively protected under our law, as held by the House of Lords in R
(Amin) v Secretary of State of the Home Department [2003] 3 WLR 1169,
why is there now a need to create a parallel right under the common law?
- At a late stage of the appeal before the House I
did wonder whether customary international law may have a direct role to play
in the argument about the development of the common law. The idea was
suggested to me by a valuable article: Andrew J Cunningham, The European
Convention on Human Rights, Customary International Law and the
Constitution, 1994, 43 ICLQ 537. The writer stated the following
propositions [538]:
"First, that treaties may generate rules of customary
international law: the accepted view that unenacted treaties 'cannot be a
source of rights and obligations' in England is thus effectively
sidestepped, since it is not the treaty itself which is the source of
rights. Second, that the numerous human rights treaties and other
instruments, of which the European Convention is but one, have given or, at
least, may give rise to rules of customary international human rights law.
Third, that customary international law forms part of the common law of
England. If these three be accepted, it follows that, to the extent that the
content of any right encompassed in the European Convention is the same as
its content in customary international law, the right in question will be
recognised in English law as a part thereof."
Along these lines there may be an argument that the right to life has long
been recognised in customary international law, which in the absence of a
contrary statute has been part of English law since before the 1998 Act came
into force. One has to remember, however, that the procedural obligation
recognised in McCann only dates from 1995, i.e. thirteen years after
the deceased was shot and after the inquest in Northern Ireland was closed. It
may be unrealistic to suggest that the procedural obligation was already part
of customary international law at a time material to these proceedings. The
point has not been in issue in the present case. It has not been researched,
and it was not the subject of adversarial argument. It may have to be
considered in a future case. The impact of evolving customary international
law on our domestic legal system is a subject of increasing importance.
- I conclude that the common law development has not
been made out.
- I would allow the appeal and dismiss the
application for judicial review.
LORD HOFFMANN
My Lords,
- On 11th November 1982 a member or members of a
unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary shot and killed Gervaise McKerr while he
was driving a car in East Lurgan. They also killed his two passengers. The
ensuing investigation into the deaths was protracted and unsatisfactory. Three
policemen were tried for murder in 1984 but the judge ruled that the evidence
adduced by the prosecution did not raise a case to answer. There was a
suspicion that important evidence had been suppressed. The coroner opened an
inquest but adjourned it while officers from English police forces conducted
further investigations. In 1986-87 they delivered reports to the DPP. In 1988
the Attorney-General announced that he had considered all the available
material and decided that it would not be in the public interest to initiate
further criminal proceedings. The inquest resumed but the coroner was unable
to obtain access to much of the evidence he required. Finally in 1994 the
Secretary of State issued a public interest immunity certificate preventing
disclosure of the reports of the independent police investigations. At that
point the coroner abandoned the inquest, saying that the reasons for which it
had been held were no longer achievable.
- Mr McKerr's mother (and after her death, his son)
petitioned the European Commission of Human Rights in 1993, alleging that the
United Kingdom was in breach of Article 2 of the Convention: "Everyone's right
to life shall be protected by law". In McCann v United Kingdom (1996) 21 EHRR 97 the Strasbourg court held (at paragraph 161) that this requires the
State to provide?
"some form of effective official investigation when individuals
have been killed as a result of the use of force by, inter alios, agents of
the State."
- In Mr McKerr's case, the Strasbourg court decided
on 4 May 2001 that the United Kingdom had not complied with this obligation:
McKerr v United Kingdom (2002) 34 EHRR 20. The shortcomings were
summarised in paragraph 157 of the judgment: the police officers who
investigated were not independent from the officers implicated; there was no
public scrutiny or involvement of the victim's family in the investigation or
the decision of the DPP not to prosecute; the abandonment of the inquest
prevented any findings which could have played an effective role in securing a
prosecution for any criminal offence disclosed; statements by witnesses who
appeared at the inquest were not disclosed in advance to the family; the PII
certificate deprived the inquest of relevant evidence; the police officers who
shot Mr McKerr were not compellable witnesses; the police investigation was
too slow; the inquest did not commence promptly and then went on too long.
- The Court accordingly found a violation of article
2 and awarded the applicant non-pecuniary damages of £10,000 for "feelings of
frustration, distress and anxiety" caused by the inadequacy of the
investigation. This sum has been paid. Pursuant to article 46(2) of the
Convention, the judgment was sent to the Committee of Ministers which is
charged with supervision of its execution. It has, in accordance with its
rules, invited the United Kingdom government to inform the Committee of the
measures which it has taken in consequence of the judgment. The government has
supplied information about legal and administrative changes which have been
made but does not propose to hold a fresh investigation into Mr McKerr's
killing. The Committee has not yet decided whether the measures notified by
the government amount to compliance with the judgment and with the State's
duty under article 52 to satisfy the Committee that its internal law enables
the rights under the Convention to be effectively implemented.
- Mr McKerr's son was dissatisfied with this outcome
and on 30 January 2002 commenced judicial review proceedings against the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland seeking a declaration that "in breach
of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and article 2 of the European
Convention", he had failed to provide an "article 2 compliant" investigation
and an order of mandamus to compel him to provide such an investigation. The
principal ground was stated to be that as the Strasbourg court had found a
breach of article 2, it was a breach of section 6 of the 1998 Act for the
Secretary of State not to hold an investigation which complied with that
article.
- Section 6 says that it is unlawful for a public
authority (such as the Secretary of State) to "act in a way which is
incompatible with a Convention right". Section 1(1) defines "Convention
rights" as "the rights and fundamental freedoms set out in" certain articles
of the Convention which section 1(3) says are set out in Schedule 1.
- So Mr McKerr says (1) the Convention gives him the
right to an effective investigation (2) the Strasbourg court has decided that
the United Kingdom has not provided him with one (3) he therefore has a
continuing right to such an investigation and (4) the Secretary of State, in
refusing to provide one, is acting in breach of his Convention rights.
Campbell LJ did not accept stage (3) of this reasoning because he said that
the obligation to provide an investigation was discharged by the declaration
and order for payment of compensation made by the Strasbourg court. The Court
of Appeal, in a judgment given by Carswell LJ, accepted all four stages of the
reasoning and made a declaration that the Government had "failed to carry out
an investigation which complies with the requirements of article 2."
- In my opinion the reasoning which the Court of
Appeal accepted does not sufficiently distinguish between the obligations
under international law which the United Kingdom (as a State) accepted by
accession to the Convention and the duties under domestic law which were
imposed upon public authorities in the United Kingdom by section 6 of the 1998
Act. These obligations belong to different legal systems; they have different
sources, are owed by different parties, have different contents and different
mechanisms for enforcement.
- It should no longer be necessary to cite authority
for the proposition that the Convention, as an international treaty, is not
part of English domestic law. R v Secretary of State for the Home
Department, ex parte Brind [1991] 1 AC 696 and
R v Lyons [2003] 1 AC 976
are two instances of its affirmation in your Lordships' House. That
proposition has been in no way altered or amended by the 1998 Act. Although
people sometimes speak of the Convention having been incorporated into
domestic law, that is a misleading metaphor. What the Act has done is to
create domestic rights expressed in the same terms as those contained in the
Convention. But they are domestic rights, not international rights. Their
source is the statute, not the Convention. They are available against specific
public authorities, not the United Kingdom as a state. And their meaning and
application is a matter for domestic courts, not the court in Strasbourg.
- This last point is demonstrated by the provision
in section 2(1) that a court determining a question which has arisen in
connection with a Convention right must "take into account" any judgment of
the Strasbourg court. Under the Convention, the United Kingdom is bound to
accept a judgment of the Strasbourg court as binding: Article 46(1). But a
court adjudicating in litigation in the United Kingdom about a domestic
"Convention right" is not bound by a decision of the Strasbourg court. It must
take it into account.
- If one keeps the distinction between international
and domestic obligations firmly in mind, the fallacy in the respondent's
reasoning becomes apparent. It can be illustrated by reference to a passage in
the judgment of Jackson J in R (Wright) v Secretary of State for the Home
Department [2001] Lloyd's Rep (Med) 478. Mr Wright was a prisoner who died
after an asthma attack in 1996. The judge found that the investigation into
his death did not comply with articles 2 and 3. He then considered whether
this gave rise to any rights enforceable in judicial review proceedings:
"The [Home Secretary] came under an obligation pursuant to
articles 2 and 3 of the Convention to set up an effective official
investigation. [He] never discharged that obligation. [His] breach of that
obligation was not actionable in the English courts before 2 October 2000…
Can the claimants now claim any remedy pursuant to sections 6, 7 and 8 of
the Act for the continuing breach of articles 2 and 3 since 2 October 2000?"
- After rejecting a floodgates argument, the judge
decided that he could. But the fallacy of the reasoning lies in the notion of
a "continuing breach" of articles 2 and 3. The judge was concerned with the
rights of the claimants in domestic law. Before 2 October 2000, there could
not have been any breach of a human rights provision in domestic law because
the Act had not come into force. So there could be no continuing breach. There
may have been a breach of article 2 as a matter of international law and this
may have "continued" after 1 October 2000, although, for the reasons given by
my noble and learned friend Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, I think it
unlikely. But that is irrelevant to whether the claimants had rights in
domestic law, for which there can be no source other than the 1998 Act. The
Act did not transmute international law obligations into domestic ones. It
created new domestic human rights. The simple question is whether as a matter
of construction, those rights applied to deaths which occurred before the Act
came into force.
- Your Lordships' House have decided on a number of
occasions that the Act was not retrospective. So the primary right to life
conferred by article 2 can have had no application to a person who died before
the Act came into force. His killing may have been a crime, a tort, a breach
of international law but it could not have been a breach of section 6 of the
Act. Why then should the ancillary right to an investigation of the death
apply to a person who died before the Act came into force? In my opinion it
does not. Otherwise there can in principle be no limit to the time one could
have to go back into history and carry out investigations. In R (Wright) v
Secretary of State for the Home Department Jackson J. was prepared to
accept the possibility of investigations into breaches of article 2 "during
the 50-year period between the UK's accession to the Convention and the coming
into force of the [1998 Act]". But that was because he regarded an
international law right under the Convention as a necessary (and sufficient)
springboard for a domestic claim on the basis of a "continuing breach". In my
opinion, however, the international law obligation is irrelevant. Either the
Act applies to deaths before 2 October 2000 or it does not. If it does, there
is no reason why the date of accession to the Convention should matter. It
would in principle be necessary to investigate the deaths by state action of
the Princes in the Tower.
- I therefore agree with the opinion of Silber J in
R (Khan) v Secretary of State for Health [2003] EWHC 1414 (Admin) that the duty to investigate under article 2 did not arise in
domestic law in respect of deaths before 2 October 2002. In the Court of
Appeal in that case ([2003] EWCA Civ 1129), Brooke LJ, giving the judgment of the Court, disagreed. He said "we
do not believe the court at Strasbourg would look at the matter in this way."
I daresay it would not. But that is because the court would be concerned with
the international obligations of the United Kingdom and not with the extent to
which the 1998 Act was retrospective.
- Mr Treacy QC, who appeared for the respondent,
said that courts could deal with applications for investigations into past
deaths in a pragmatic way. If an inquiry would no longer serve any purpose,
they would refuse one. That was a question of remedy rather than the existence
of the right. Likewise in the Khan case, Brooke LJ said "If this
decision causes practical difficulties in other cases, the solution to those
difficulties will have to be worked out on a case by case basis." I do not
think it appropriate for human rights to be reduced to a matter of broad
judicial discretion in this way. In my opinion Parliament intended section 6
of the 1998 Act to be enforced, but enforced only in respect of breaches
occurring after it came into force.
- Mr Treacy submitted in the alternative that,
independently of the 1998 Act, the common law had created a right to an
investigation which made it unlawful for the Secretary of State to refuse to
order one. In my opinion this is an impossible contention. It is true that in
R (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] 3 WLR 1169
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said (at p. 1185) that "a profound respect for the
sanctity of human life underpins the common law as it underpins the
jurisprudence under articles 1 and 2 of the Convention." It is perfectly true
that the sanctity of life is a value which has directed the development of the
common law and the enactment of many statutes which are intended to protect
life, provide for the investigation of unnatural deaths and secure the
detection and punishment of those who unlawfully kill. A number of statutes
concerned with inquests into deaths in England and Wales are mentioned by Lord
Bingham in paragraphs 16 and 17 of his judgment and there are similar statutes
applicable to Northern Ireland. Some of the grounds upon which the Strasbourg
court found that the investigative procedures in Mr McKerr's case did not
satisfy article 2 (for example, the rule by which a person suspected of
causing the death was not a compellable witness and the limited nature of the
verdicts which could be returned by the coroner's jury) were deficiencies in
these statutory provisions. But no successful challenge to the legality of the
various investigative procedures (the criminal trial, the police inquiries,
the inquest) was made at the time and it is far too late to make such a
challenge now. Nor is any attempt being made to invoke domestic law procedures
to quash the decision of the coroner to abandon the inquest or require another
to be held.
- Instead, the respondent, in this part of the
argument, asserts a broad common law principle equivalent to article 2 against
which the whole of the complex set of rules which governed the earlier
investigations can be tested and by which they can be found wanting and be
ordered to be rerun under different rules. My Lords, in my opinion there is no
such overarching principle and I venture to suggest that the very notion of
such a principle, capable of overriding detailed statutory and common law
rules, is alien to the traditions of the common law. The common law develops
from case to case in harmony with statute. Its principles are generalisations
from detailed rules, not abstract propositions from which those rules are
deduced. Still less does it provide a solvent for any difficulties which may
exist in the rules enacted by Parliament. It is in this respect quite
different from the general statements which have now been enacted by the 1998
Act and to which the House gave effect in R (Amin) v Secretary of State for
the Home Department [2003] 3 WLR 1169.
- I would allow the appeal and dismiss the
application for judicial review.
LORD RODGER OF EARLSFERRY
My Lords,
- My Lords, I too would allow the appeal, for the
reasons given by my noble and learned friends, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead,
Lord Hoffmann and Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. I merely wish to add a
short comment on the application of the Human Rights Act 1998 ("the Act") in
relation to the death of Gervaise McKerr.
- Ever since the European Convention on Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms came into effect in international law, the United
Kingdom has been bound by its terms. The position under international law did
not change in any way on 2 October 2000: that was a significant day in terms
of the domestic legal systems of the United Kingdom, but not in terms of
international law. Both before and after that date, the obligation on the
United Kingdom under article 1 of the Convention was to secure to everyone
within its jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section I of the
Convention. Similarly, both before and after that date, the United Kingdom
aimed to secure the enjoyment of those rights and freedoms by means of a raft
of common law and statutory provisions in its domestic law. If the rights and
remedies available in our domestic law proved to be insufficient for this
purpose in any given case, then the European Court of Human Rights would find
that the United Kingdom had failed to secure the right or freedom and so was
in violation of its international law obligation under the Convention. The
only difference that the commencement of the Act made - and it was, of course,
a significant difference - was to increase the range of provisions available
in our domestic law to ensure that people within the jurisdiction enjoyed
those rights and freedoms. On the international plane this meant that the
United Kingdom should be better placed to fulfil its obligation under article
1 of the Convention.
- Over the years, Parliament has passed many Acts,
and public authorities have taken many steps, to secure that, under our
domestic law, people should enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the
Convention. The legislation dealt with particular situations, whether or not
brought to light by a ruling from Strasbourg. In 1998 Parliament adopted a
more elegant and comprehensive solution. The Act reproduces as rights in our
domestic law the rights that are to be found in certain specified articles in
the Convention and in two of the Protocols: section 1(1) - (3). It then makes
it unlawful for public authorities to act or to fail to act in a way which is
incompatible with those rights: section 6(1) and (6). Those affected by a
breach can rely on these rights; courts and tribunals can grant the relief,
remedy or order that they consider just and appropriate if a public authority
is found to have acted unlawfully by violating one of them: sections 7 and 8.
In any given situation, therefore, a person may rely not only on all the
pre-existing rights and remedies afforded by the common law and statute, but
also on the relevant new domestic rights set out in schedule 1 to the Act.
And, correspondingly, the courts can grant not only the remedies that would
have been available to give effect to the pre-existing common law and
statutory rights, but also the just and appropriate remedy to give effect to
the relevant rights under the Act.
- In the present case the respondent relies on his
rights under the domestic law of Northern Ireland. In particular, he says
that, by reason of the Convention right under article 2 as set out in schedule
1 to the Act ("article 2 Convention right"), he has the right to a prompt and
effective investigation of his father's death. By refusing to carry out such
an investigation, he says, the Secretary of State has acted, and continues to
act, incompatibly with that right and so unlawfully in terms of section 6(1).
- The respondent's father, Gervaise McKerr, was shot
by an RUC officer or officers in 1982. Your Lordships' House has established
that, subject to section 22(4), which does not apply in the present case, the
Act does not have retroactive effect. So none of its provisions applies to the
position in 1982. This means that, in the domestic law of Northern Ireland,
the legal rights and duties of the people involved in the events of 1982 are
not altered by the Act. In particular, Gervaise McKerr did not enjoy, and is
not now to be regarded as having enjoyed, any article 2 Convention right to
life under the Act. It follows that his killing, however it may have come
about, is not to be regarded as having been incompatible with that Convention
right or as unlawful by reason of section 6(1).
- The respondent accepts this, but he fastens on
another aspect of article 2. Where the article applies, it is interpreted as
requiring the relevant public authority to carry out an effective official
investigation of any death which may have resulted from the use of force by
agents of the state: McCann v United Kingdom (1996) 21 EHRR 97, 163,
para 161. This obligation is variously described as procedural or adjectival,
but its purpose is to ensure that the lawfulness of the use of force by state
agents resulting in death is reviewed. Without such a procedure the guarantee
in article 2 would be ineffective. The Secretary of State does not dispute
that interpretation of the article 2 Convention right. It follows, of course,
that deaths will have to be investigated even though, as it turns out, the
killing was lawful and not in breach of that right. To that extent the right
to an investigation can properly be regarded as freestanding.
- What the respondent claims, however, is an article
2 Convention right under the Act to have his father's death investigated even
though, as he accepts, the killing did not violate, and is not to be regarded
as having violated, any article 2 Convention right under the Act. Such a claim
is fatally flawed and must be rejected.
- Like Lord Brown I am doubtful whether, even in
international law terms, there was by October 2000 any continuing breach of
the relatives' right to an effective investigation of Gervaise McKerr's death
under article 2 of the Convention. But, even supposing that there was, that
continuing breach of an international obligation was not turned into a
continuing breach of an article 2 Convention right in domestic law when the
Act came into force. Any breach that there was remained a breach in
international law and nothing more. The respondent relies on the Act as part
of the domestic law of Northern Ireland. Under the Act the right to an
investigation, deriving from an article 2 Convention right, presupposes that
the killing could have been in violation of that selfsame Convention right.
So, when the respondent's father was killed in 1982, his relatives had no
right to an investigation under the Act. Moreover, since the Act is not
retroactive, they are not now to be regarded as having had such a right in
1982 or at any time after that. Conversely, the Secretary of State is not to
be regarded as having been in breach, or continuing breach, of such a right
either in 1982 or at any time after that.
- What the respondent is really saying, therefore,
is that, when the Act came into force, it conferred on him a right under
article 2 to have his father's death investigated even though his killing was
not, and is not to be regarded as having been, in breach of any article 2
Convention right under the Act. Therefore, the respondent is not asking the
courts to apply the Act according to its terms, but to amend them so as to fit
this case. That cannot be done. If Parliament had intended the rights under
article 2 to be split up, with the Act applying differently to the different
aspects, then it would have provided for this expressly. The potential
objections are obvious. It would be curious to give a right, under the Act, to
an investigation of a killing to which the Act did not apply. If there were to
be such a right to an investigation, how far back would it go? Speculation is
fruitless: what matters is that Parliament could have made, but did not make,
any such transitional provision. The obvious conclusion is that the right to
an investigation under the Act is confined to deaths which, having occurred
after the commencement of the Act, may be found to be unlawful under the Act.
The respondent seeks to contradict the policy of Parliament.
LORD BROWN OF EATON-UNDER-HEYWOOD
My Lords,
- The respondent's father was one of three men shot
dead in Armagh by RUC police officers from a special mobile support unit on 11
November 1982. Within a month three other men had been killed in two similar
incidents. The police, it came to be alleged, were operating a shoot to kill
policy.
- Try as they might, those like the respondent
concerned by these deaths have never managed to secure a fully satisfactory
investigation into them.
- The investigations in fact undertaken and the
respondent's efforts to improve upon them have already been charted in the
speech of my noble and learned friend Lord Nicholls. He has summarised too the
judgment of the ECtHR (which became final on 4 August 2001) upon the
application made by the respondent's mother on 7 March 1993 and continued by
him after her death. Put shortly, the ECtHR found that the various
investigations carried out, culminating in the final abandonment of the
inquest on 8 September 1994, failed in a number of respects to comply with the
procedural obligation implied by Article 2 of the Convention. Awarding the
respondent damages of £10,000, the Court said in para 181 of its judgment:
"[T]he Court has found that the national authorities failed in
their obligation to carry out a prompt and effective investigation into the
circumstances of the death. The applicant must thereby have suffered
feelings of frustration, distress and anxiety. The Court considers that the
applicant sustained some non-pecuniary damage which is not sufficiently
compensated by the finding of a violation as a result of the Convention."
- The central question before your Lordships is
whether following that judgment the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
(the appellant) is now under an obligation enforceable in domestic law to
undertake a further investigation into this killing. By letter dated 5
September 2001 the respondent's solicitors contended that such further
investigation is now required "to comply with [the ECtHR's] ruling". The
appellant disputes this.
- Campbell LJ at first instance concluded that the
obligation to conduct an Article 2 compliant investigation "remained
unfulfilled until such an investigation was carried out or a competent court
vindicated the right in some other way", but that, the respondent having
received a declaration and an order for just satisfaction from the ECtHR, the
obligation then came to an end. The Court of Appeal allowed the respondent's
appeal. They agreed with Campbell LJ that "there is a continuing breach of
Article 2" but, unlike him, concluded that it had not come to an end and that
the respondent would remain a victim so long as "no domestic remedy has been
afforded to [him]".
- It was not suggested to either court below that,
whatever continuing obligation there might be on the international plane to
conduct some further investigation, no such duty could arise under domestic
law because the Human Rights Act 1998 (the 1998 Act) is not retrospective.
That now is the principal argument advanced by the Attorney General on behalf
of the appellant.
- The argument essentially comes to this. Under
domestic law it only became unlawful for a public authority to act
incompatibly with a Convention right on 2 October 2000. Whatever the
circumstances of Mr McKerr's death, therefore, Article 2 of the Convention was
not engaged by it. On the domestic plane the appellant could not be said to
have breached the substantive obligations arising under Article 2. Nor,
moreover, could he be said to have breached the procedural obligation to hold
a sufficient inquiry into the death—an obligation which the ECtHR first found
to be implicit in Article 2 in McCann v United Kingdom (1995) 21 EHRR 97
(the Death on the Rock case) and has developed in subsequent caselaw to
the point now reached in this very case, McKerr v United Kingdom (2001) 34 EHRR 20 (and the other three Northern Ireland cases determined in parallel
with it). Plainly no Article 2 obligation to investigate McKerr's death could
arise under domestic law prior to 2 October 2000. But no more could it arise
after that date. It is a procedural obligation properly to be regarded as
secondary or ancillary or adjectival to the substantive obligation to protect
life, an obligation arising directly out of the loss of a life. True it is
that in McCann, where this procedural duty was first articulated, the
ECtHR said that "where a victim dies in circumstances which are unclear . . .
the lack of any effective procedure to investigate the cause of the
deprivation of life could by itself raise an issue under Article 2 of the
Convention" (para 193 of the Court's judgment), and true it is too that in the
subsequent Strasbourg jurisprudence it has been described as a "freestanding"
obligation. That, however, means no more than that the procedural duty arises
independently of any demonstrable breach of the substantive obligations
arising under Article 2. As stated in paragraph 111 of McKerr itself:
"The essential purpose of such investigation is to secure the
effective implementation of the domestic laws which protect the right to
life and, in those cases involving State agents or bodies, to ensure their
accountability for deaths occurring under their responsibility."
- The duty to investigate is, in short, necessarily
linked to the death itself and cannot arise under domestic law save in respect
of a death occurring at a time when Article 2 rights were enforceable under
domestic law, i.e. on and after 2 October 2000.
- Such is the argument and to my mind it is
irresistible. To say, as Mr Treacy QC for the respondent does, that the
procedural obligation, once engaged, is a continuing one, regarded by the
ECtHR here as still continuing at the date of their decision in 2001, is
nothing to the point. Even were it so (and, as I shall shortly come to
explain, for my part I doubt it is), that would be the position only on the
international plane. It would say nothing as to whether, on the true
interpretation and application of the 1998 Act, a pre-2 October 2000 death
could give rise to a procedural obligation to hold an Article 2 compliant
investigation enforceable under domestic law on and after 2 October 2000.
- As for Mr Treacy's alternative contention that,
irrespective of whether a right to an Article 2 compliant investigation now
arises under section 6 of the 1998 Act, a duty to hold such an investigation
in any event arises at common law, and indeed has remained unfulfilled ever
since Mr McKerr's death, this in my opinion fails both on authority and
principle. By the same token that this House in R v Lyons [2003] 1 AC 976,
declined, by reference to a subsequent ECtHR ruling, to hold a pre-1998 Act
trial, conducted in accordance with the domestic laws and standards then
applicable, unsafe, so too here it would be wrong for your Lordships to
condemn as contrary to the common law a series of procedures long since
properly concluded in accordance with well-established domestic laws and never
challenged save by reference to a substantially later ECHR decision. Nor would
it be right to impute to the common law a requirement for the same form of
investigation of fatalities as the ECtHR has now found implicit in Article 2.
Such a fiction would be unwarranted however profound one's desire to interpret
domestic law down the years consistently with our international obligations.
- I return, as promised, to indicate why for my part
I would question Mr Treacy's assertion that the ECtHR's judgment should be
understood as a finding that the United Kingdom remains under an international
law obligation to hold a further investigation into Mr McKerr's death.
Immaterial though, for reasons already explained, the correctness of this
assertion is to the determination of the appeal, it would be unfortunate if
the impression were gained that it was necessarily accepted by your Lordships.
The following points should be made. First, that the ECtHR, by reference to a
number of identified shortcomings in the various investigative processes long
since concluded in this case, found "that there has been a failure to comply
with the procedural obligation imposed by Article 2 of the Convention and that
there has been, in this respect, a violation of that provision." (para 161).
There is nothing in the judgment to suggest that this violation is to be
regarded as a continuing one.
- Secondly, it is plain that, 20 years on from Mr
McKerr's death, no fresh inquiry could possibly comply fully with the now
established requirements of an Article 2 investigation. Perhaps most
obviously, the opportunity for a prompt independent investigation has been
irretrievably lost; this element of a compliant inquiry would necessarily be
missing.
- Thirdly, it has now been left by the Court to the
Committee of Ministers to supervise the execution of its judgment pursuant to
Article 46 (2) of the Convention. That Committee may or may not sanction the
United Kingdom's present proposal, which is to hold no further inquiry into Mr
McKerr's death. But even if it does not, such further inquiry as may be
stipulated could only be by way of partial redress or remedy for past
failures. Merely because the Committee of Ministers may judge some further
inquiry "effective" does not mean that it would be compliant.
- In short, the most that is achievable now on the
international plane is further redress for past non-compliance. It accordingly
follows that, even were the domestic court, despite the non-retrospectivity of
the 1998 Act, able to entertain Article 2 complaints in respect of pre-October
2000 deaths, the respondent would in any event be unable to establish that an
Article 2 procedural obligation in respect of Mr McKerr's death arose after
October 2000. The complaint would not be of a proposed post-October 2000
unlawful act (the refusal to comply with the implied procedural obligation to
investigate) but rather of a pre-October 2000 breach and manifestly the
respondent could have no right in domestic law to complain about that.
- This conclusion, however, as I have already
acknowledged, is not essential to the disposal of the present appeal. It is
for the reasons earlier given, which accord with those given in the speech of
my noble and learned friend Lord Hoffmann, that I too would allow the appeal
and dismiss the respondent's application for judicial review.
