Britain gets Bill of Rights, breaks away from Magna Carta

Britain gets Bill of Rights, breaks away from Magna Carta
REUTERS

LONDON, OCT 2: Two centuries after a troublesome colony won independence and included a Bill of Rights for citizens in its constitution, the first Bill of Citizens' Rights for England and Wales became law on Monday.

The powers of England's rulers have been limited since the Magna Carta in 1215, but its citizens' rights have never been specifically protected against the power of the state as Americans' have since the 1791 U S Bill of Rights.

"It's about a David and Goliath measure, if you like, making David more powerful and better able to deal with the state," Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Jack Straw said on BBC Television.

The measure means that Britons will be able to enforce their rights directly in British courts and not go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which can take five years.

"There are many important areas of people's rights where sometimes people feel the state or public authorities on behalf of the state have not been fair to them and this act will be able to help them," Straw said.

Critics say incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights will undermine parliament and yield thousands of claims from interest groups, clogging courts and enriching lawyers.

Straw said he disagreed: "We don't believe it will be this gravy train for lawyers as has been predicted."

One of the legislation's most prominent backers is Cherie Booth, one of Britain's top lawyers and wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who says it marks a "third way" between the interests of society and the individual.

Britain was one of the first countries to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, which broadly mirrored the U S Bill of Rights, 50 years ago, but it trails the rest of Europe in enacting Monday's measure.

The convention enshrines the rights to free expression, a fair trial and privacy, among others.

Scotland incorporated it into law a year ago. Straw said 800 applications have been made, only two per cent successful.

Lord Mackenzie, a Labour peer in the House of Lords, said the final decision in rights cases continued to be parliament's.

"I think it provides important safeguards for citizens," he told the BBC. "But always remember that in this country parliament is supreme, and it will be parliament that will decide at the end of the day."

In what may be the first case to be brought under the changes, a British widower is to sue the government on Monday for what he says is sex discrimination.

Les Withey, a father of four whose wife died of breast cancer in 1996, says he has not been entitled to the pensions and benefits that widows receive.

"This is one claim in a rainbow of claims that could be brought," his lawyer, Geoffrey Cox, said over the weekend.