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How Effectively Can the Judiciary Check Legislative and Executive Power in the Uk?

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How effectively can the judiciary check legislative and executive power in the UK? (40)

Since the passage of the Human Rights Act in 1998 (HR Act) the judiciary in England and Wales have had wider scope for checking legislative and executive power. However, despite the increases in effectiveness of this function, there are still fundamental limitations that make the check on especially legislative power ineffective.
First of all, the HR Act has given considerably more ability to the judges to check both legislative and executive power in Britain. This is because the HR Act requires that every bill ministers propose to be compatible with the Act. In the case of a breach, citizens or affected bodies can appeal to the judiciary that their rights under the Act have been breached. If the judiciary rule in their favour, the government is usually forced to amend the law to make it compatible with the HR Act. In this way, by notifying the government of a breach of the HR Act, the judiciary can prevent government and Parliament being too powerful. An example of this was in the case of A v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2004), where the detention without trial of 9 foreign nationals in Belmarsh prison under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act was ruled as in breach of Articles 5 and 14 of the HR Act. The government were forced to change the law and release the suspects demonstrating the definite check on power provided.
Secondly, the process of judicial review is vital in checking the power of government, especially as regards the use of statutory instrument and delegated legislation. Judicial review is not like the above method of first instance where the rights and wrongs of the case are considered. Judicial review is a process of administrative justice that examines the procedure and legality of a government action. If the action has exceeded

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