Regina v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ex parte Quark Fishing Limited: HL 13 Oct 2005

The applicant had previously received licences to fish for Patagonian Toothfish off South Georgia. The defendant had instructed the issuer of the licence in such a way that it was not renewed. It now had to establish that its article 1 rights had been infringed in order to claim damages.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and the claim for damages failed. ‘South Georgia is a territory for whose international relations the United Kingdom is responsible. In respect of South Georgia the United Kingdom has made a declaration in respect of the Convention. It has not made a similar declaration in respect of the first Protocol.’ The Human Rights Act confirmed the obligations of the UK to those under its jurisdiction, it did not extend those responsibilities to others. If no claim can be made in Strasbourg, it follows that there cannot have been an infringement of a Convention right giving rise to a claim under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Baroness Hale of Richmond
Times 17-Oct-2005, [2005] 3 WLR 837, [2005] UKHL 57, [2005] HRLR 41, [2006] UKHRR 535, [2006] 1 AC 529, [2006] 3 All ER 111, [2006] Eu LR 424
House of Lords, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 81, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Order 1985 (SI 1985/449), British Overseas Territories Act 2002
England and Wales
Citing:
At First InstanceQuark Fishing Ltd, Regina (on the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Admn 22-Jul-2003
The respondent had failed to renew the claimant’s license to fish in the South Atlantic for Patagonian Toothfish. The refusal had been found to be unlawful. The claimant now sought damages.
Held: English law does not generally provide a remedy . .
Appeal fromQuark Fishing Ltd, Regina (on the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs CA 29-Apr-2004
The claimant sought damages for having had its licence to catch Patagonian toothfish off South Georgia revoked, saying that it had infringed its property rights under the Convention.
Held: Though the Convention rights had been extended to . .
CitedIn re Bateman’s Trust 1873
The queen is the queen of New South Wales. . .
CitedRegina v The Secretary of State for The Home Department, ex parte Bhurosah CA 1968
In Mauritius the Queen is the Queen of Mauritius and the issuing of passports by the Government of Mauritius, although a matter of foreign affairs and therefore under the control of the UK Government, was an act carried out in the name of the Queen . .
CitedX v Belgium ECHR 1961
The Commission considered claims by long standing residents of the Belgian Congo who suffered as a result of upheavals on independence. One claim was based upon exclusion, albeit of Belgian nationals, from participation in the elections held in . .
CitedThe Queen in Right of Alberta v Canadian Transport Commission 1977
The Crown in right of Alberta may be equated with the Government of Alberta. . .
CitedRegina v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Another, ex parte Bancoult Admn 3-Nov-2000
The applicant sought judicial review of an ordinance made by the commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory. An issue was raised whether the High Court in London had jurisdiction to entertain the proceedings and grant relief.
Held: . .
CitedGillow v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Nov-1986
The housing authority in Guernsey refused to allow the applicants to occupy the house they owned there.
Held: The house in question was the applicants’ home because, although they had been absent from Guernsey for many years, they had not . .
CitedRegina v The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex parte Indian Association of Alberta CA 1982
The court considered an application leave to request a judicial review seeking a declaration that treaty obligations entered into by the Crown to the Indian peoples of Canada were still owed by Her Majesty in right of Her government in the UK.
CitedTito v Waddell (No 2); Tito v Attorney General ChD 1977
Equity applies its doctrines to the substance, not the form, of transactions. In respect of the rule against self dealing for trustees ‘But of course equity looks beneath the surface, and applies its doctrines to cases where, although in form a . .
CitedBui van Thanh v United Kingdom ECHR 12-Mar-1990
The applicant, one of the ‘Vietnamese Boat People’, complained of the acts of government official in Hong Kong.
Held: The UK government had not extended the Convention to Hong Kong and the application failed. . .
CitedX v Belgium ECHR 1961
The Commission considered claims by long standing residents of the Belgian Congo who suffered as a result of upheavals on independence. One claim was based upon exclusion, albeit of Belgian nationals, from participation in the elections held in . .
CitedIn re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .
CitedBui van Thanh v United Kingdom ECHR 12-Mar-1990
The applicant, one of the ‘Vietnamese Boat People’, complained of the acts of government official in Hong Kong.
Held: The UK government had not extended the Convention to Hong Kong and the application failed. . .
CitedParochial Church Council of the Parish of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley, Warwickshire v Wallbank and another HL 26-Jun-2003
Parish Councils are Hybrid Public Authorities
The owners of glebe land were called upon as lay rectors to contribute to the cost of repairs to the local church. They argued that the claim was unlawful by section 6 of the 1998 Act as an act by a public authority incompatible with a Convention . .
CitedDrozd and Janousek v France and Spain ECHR 26-Jun-1992
The applicants complained of the unfairness of their trial in Andorra (which the Court held it had no jurisdiction to investigate) and of their detention in France, which was not found to violate article 5.
Held: Member states are obliged to . .

Cited by:
CitedRegina (on the Application of Mazin Mumaa Galteh Al-Skeini and Others) v The Secretary of State for Defence CA 21-Dec-2005
The claimants were dependants of Iraqi nationals killed in Iraq.
Held: The Military Police were operating when Britain was an occupying power. The question in each case was whether the Human Rights Act applied to the acts of the defendant. The . .
CitedAli v Head Teacher and Governors of Lord Grey School HL 22-Mar-2006
The claimant had been accused with others of arson to school property. He was suspended for the maximum forty five day period. The school then invited the family to discuss arrangements to return to the school, but the family did not attend. After . .
CitedAl-Jedda v Secretary of State for Defence CA 29-Mar-2006
The applicant had dual Iraqi and British nationality. He was detained by British Forces in Iraq under suspicion of terrorism, and interned.
Held: His appeal failed. The UN resolution took priority over the European Convention on Human Rights . .
CitedBancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) Admn 11-May-2006
The claimant on behalf of himself and other islanders sought a declaration that the 2004 Order was unlawful. The islands had been emptied of people in 1973 and before in order to allow use of the islands as military bases. He had enjoyed a right to . .
CitedBancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) HL 22-Oct-2008
The claimants challenged the 2004 Order which prevented their return to their homes on the Chagos Islands. The islanders had been taken off the island to leave it for use as a US airbase. In 2004, the island was no longer needed, and payment had . .
CitedHM Treasury v Ahmed and Others SC 27-Jan-2010
The claimants objected to orders made freezing their assets under the 2006 Order, after being included in the Consolidated List of suspected members of terrorist organisations.
Held: The orders could not stand. Such orders were made by the . .
CitedMcCaughey and Another, Re Application forJudicial Review SC 18-May-2011
The claimants sought a fuller inquest into deaths at the hands of the British Army in 1990 in Northern Ireland. On opening the inquest, the coroner had declined to undertake to hold a hearing compliant with article 2, and it had not made progress. . .
CitedBarclay and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Others SC 22-Oct-2014
Constitutional Status of Chanel Islands considered
The Court was asked as to the role, if any, of the courts of England and Wales (including the Supreme Court) in the legislative process of one of the Channel Islands. It raised fundamental questions about the constitutional relationship between the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Agriculture, Constitutional

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.231108