Davidson v Scottish Ministers: HL 15 Dec 2005

The complainant a prisoner sought an order that he should not be kept in conditions found to be inhumane. He had been detained in Barlinnie priosn. The Crown replied that a mandatory order was not available against the Scottish Ministers.
Held: the respondent sought to rely upon what was no more than a slip of drafting. The intention of the 1947 Act was that equivalent remedies should be available in both England and Scotland. The appeal succeeded.

Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Mance
2006 SC (HL) 41, [2005] UKHL 74, Times 19-Dec-2005
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 3, Crown Proceedings Act 1947 21, Scotland Act 1998 126(4)
Scotland
Citing:
CitedReclaiming Motion In Petition of Scott Davidson for Judicial Review of A Decision To Continue To Detain the Prisoner In Inhuman and Degrading Prison C SCS 18-Dec-2001
A prisoner sought an order for his removal from a prison found to have a regime which breached his human rights. The Crown replied that an order could not be made under s21 of the 1947 Act.
Held: The prisoner had followed through his rights to . .
See AlsoDavidson v Scottish Ministers HL 15-Jul-2004
The claimant had sought damages for the conditions in which he had been held in prison in Scotland. He later discovered that one of the judges had acted as Lord Advocate representing as to the ability of the new Scottish Parliamentary system to . .
CitedMcDonald v Secretary of State for Scotland IHCS 2-Feb-1994
The pursuer, a prisoner, complained that he had been subject to repeated searches which he claimed were illegal. He sought damages and an injunction.
Held: The action which the pursuer had raised was an ordinary action in the sheriff court was . .
CitedScott Davidson v The Scottish Ministers (No 2) IHCS 11-Sep-2002
. .
CitedBritish Medical Association v Greater Glasgow Health Board HL 1989
The House considered the availability of orders against the Crown in Scotland. It is inconceivable that Parliament should have intended to fetter the right of the subject to obtain a prohibitory order more strictly in Scotland than in England. The . .
CitedM v Home Office and Another; In re M HL 27-Jul-1993
A Zairian sought asylum, but his application, and an application for judicial review were rejected. He was notified that he was to be returned to Zaire, but then issued new proceedings for judicial review. The judge said that his removal should be . .
CitedAdams v Naylor HL 1946
The House disapproved of the practice of appointing a nominee defendant in tort actions against whom damages could be awarded as opposed to a party with crown immunity. The House refused to entertain a claim against a nominated army officer arising . .
CitedRoyster v Cavey CA 1946
The plaintiff sought damages after being injured on her way to work. The Crown nominated the superintendent of a factory in which the plaintiff was injured as its occupier in order to allow the claim which would otherwise have failed for Crown . .
CitedWest v Secretary of State for Scotland SCS 1992
The court asked what was to be considered to be truly an application to the supervisory jurisdiction of the court.
Held: Lord President (Hope): ‘The public or private nature of the inferior body or tribunal is not decisive, nor is it necessary . .
CitedDavy v Spelthorne Borough Council HL 13-Oct-1983
Although section 243(1)(a) provides that the ‘validity’ of an enforcement notice is not to be questioned except as therein provided, the word ‘validity’ is evidently not intended to be understood in its strict sense. It is used to mean merely . .
CitedConnor v Strathclyde Regional Council 1986
. .
CitedTehrani v Argyll and Clyde Health Board 1989
. .
CitedSafeway Food Stores Ltd v Scottish Provident Institution 1989
. .
CitedLord Saltoun v Advocate General for Scotland 1860
. .
CitedLaw Hospital NHS Trust v Lord Advocate and Another IHCS 20-May-1996
The patient suffered from irreversible damage to the cerebral cortex and fell into a persistent vegetative state in 1992. Permanently insensate, she remained alive only because feeding and hydration were provided to her artificially and because of . .
CitedIncome Tax Special Commissioners v Pemsel HL 20-Jul-1891
Charitable Purposes used with technical meaning
The House was asked whether, in a taxing statute applying to the whole of the United Kingdom and allowing for deductions from and allowances against the income of land vested in trustees for charitable purposes, the words ‘charitable purposes’ . .
CitedEntick v Carrington KBD 1765
The Property of Every Man is Sacred
The King’s Messengers entered the plaintiff’s house and seized his papers under a warrant issued by the Secretary of State, a government minister.
Held: The common law does not recognise interests of state as a justification for allowing what . .
CitedWilliam Ian Frederick Beggs v The Scottish Ministers for Judicial Review of A Decision From Hm Prison, Edinburgh To Hm Prison, Peterhead OHCS 24-Mar-2005
. .
CitedClark v University of Lincolnshire and Humberside CA 14-Apr-2000
A student had been failed after being falsely accused of cheating, but the academic review board, on remarking the paper marked it as zero.
Held: Where a University did not have the supervisory jurisdiction of a visitor, a breach of contract . .
CitedForbes v Underwood 1886
The supervisory jurisdiction of the Court of Session was used to compel an arbiter to proceed with an arbitration agreed under a private contract. . .
CitedAB v Lord Advocate 1916
The complainers in a note of suspension and interdict, owned lands round a loch and the loch itself. The military took possession of the lands and loch in September 1915 in order to carry out works. They sought interdict against the commanding . .
CitedO’Reilly v Mackman HL 1982
Remission of Sentence is a Privilege not a Right
The plaintiffs had begun their action, to challenge their loss of remission as prisoners, by means of a writ, rather than by an action for judicial review, and so had sidestepped the requirement for the action to be brought within strict time . .
CitedSt Johnstone Football Club v Scottish Football Association Ltd 1965
The Supervisory jurisdiction of the Court of Session was available to check whether the proceedings leading to a disciplinary decision of the Scottish Football Association, a private association, had been conducted in accordance with natural . .

Cited by:
CitedBeggs v Scottish Ministers HL 7-Feb-2007
The claimant, a serving prisoner, had sought to sue the prison authorities for the conditions in which he was kept. He complained that his correspondence with his lawyers had been unlwafully opened by the prison. Repeatedly, undertakings were given . .
CitedHelow v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another HL 22-Oct-2008
The appellant, a Palestinian, challenged the involvement of Lady Cosgrove as a judge in her case, saying that Lady Cosgrove’s involvement as a jew in pro-Jewish lobby organisations meant that there was an appearance of bias. The applicant had sought . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Prisons, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.237555