UK Courts "not bound" by ECHR rulings, says Lord Chief Justice

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Judge, has criticised the effect of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the decisions of courts in the United Kingdom and said that the judiciary should not consider itself “bound” by its decisions.

According to a report in the Times, Lord Judge told the Lords Constitution Committee that while judges should take account of decisions in Strasbourg, they were not bound by them. Giving evidence to the committee, The Lord Chief Justice said that it was unclear what Parliament had meant when it passed the Human Rights Act and whether it required courts to strictly follow rulings of the European court. Judges, he added, should give them due weight and seek to follow the rulings, but might not “necessarily” do so.

However, at same evidence session of the committee, the head of Britain’s Supreme Court, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, suggested that the Strasbourg court must be followed. He said: “In the end, Strasbourg is going to win. As long as we have the Human Rights Act ... and that is designed to give effect to that part of the rule of law which says we must comply with the convention [on human rights].”

Lord Judge responded by saying that the existence of the European Union and the European Court of Justice meant that  “Strasbourg should not always win.”.