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The Supreme Court will hear one full appeal and an application for permission to appeal this week, and one judgment will be handed down. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the case of R (Smith) v Secretary of State for Defence will be heard in courtroom 1 by a 9 strong bench consisting of Lords Phillips, Hope, Rodger, Walker, Lady Hale and Lords Brown, Mance, Collins and Kerr. The case relates to the death of a British soldier while on active service in Iraq and is likely to be closely followed in the press, as it could have significant implications for those continuing to serve on military operations.
The issues for the court to determine are: (1) whether a British soldier on military service in Iraq is subject to UK jurisdiction within the meaning of article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) so as to benefit from the rights guaranteed by the Human Rights Act 1998 while operating in Iraq; and (2) whether the inquest into the soldier’s death must conform to the procedural obligation implicit in article 2 of ECHR. Our case preview is here and the case details on the Supreme Court website can be found here.
The application for permission to appeal is from a decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of KC (South Africa) v Secretary of State for the Home Department ([2009] EWCA Civ 630) in respect of an order for the deportation of a South African national after his application for asylum was denied. The application will be heard on Monday morning in courtroom 2 by Lords Phillips, Mance and Clarke. The issues for the court to determine are: (1) whether Article 14 of Council Directive 2004/83/EC is ultra vires Article 63 EC and whether that issue should be referred to the Court of Justice; (2) whether refugee status may be awarded to those convicted of particularly serious criminal offences; and (3) what the correct sufficiency of protection test is under Article 3 ECHR. The case details on the Supreme Court website can be found here.
