Human Rights cases on the rise, says new research

The number of reported UK court cases making use of human rights arguments rose for the first time in seven years, research by Sweet & Maxwell has revealed.

The number of such cases in 2008/09 rose by 6% to 348, halting a year-on-year decline from a peak of 714 in 2001/02.

This was in part because of a surge in immigration, asylum and deportation cases where human rights arguments were employed. The government's use of control orders in its bid to tackle terrorism has also often been challenged on human rights grounds.

Sweet & Maxwell suggested that the increase could also be explained by a rise in the number of businesses using the Human Rights Act in legal disputes with government agencies.

The 12 months to October 2009 saw 19 cases where businesses employed these arguments, nearly double the 10 from the year before.

The legal publisher highlighted the Northern Rock case where hedge funds RAB Special Situations and SRM Global Master Fund claimed the nationalisation of the bank had deprived them of their property in breach of the Human Rights Act.

There has also been an increase in the number of tax-related cases where human rights arguments have been employed against HM Revenue and Customs.