Learning outcomes After studying this course, you should be able to: understand the historical growth of the idea of human rights demonstrate an awareness of the international context of human rights demonstrate an awareness of the position of human rights in the UK prior to 1998 understand the importance of the Human Rights Act 1998 analyse and evaluate concepts and ideas.
Introduction This course considers the growth of human rights and humanitarian law before looking at the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in detail. It will also look at the position of human rights in the UK and the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998. This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Law
Acknowledgements The following material is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course: Co
References
Keep on learning   There are more than 800 courses on OpenLearn for you to 7.2 An EU constitution: moving the debate on In the next activity you will be able to build upon the previous one and observe the way in which the debate on the new EU constitution has progressed and moved to another level on its way to ratification. 7.1 Towards a constitution The European treaties establishing the European Union: create an institutional structure for decision making, and set out the freedoms of the individuals and the limits of the decision-making powers over the citizens. The treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was signed by the member states in October 2004. However, at the time of writing (2005), the process of ratification is in abeyance following the rejection o 6.5 The principle of subsidiarity This is defined in Article 5(1) EC and 5(2) EC. It requires decision-making bodies with responsibility for larger areas to perform only those functions that decision-making bodies with responsibility for smaller areas cannot fulfil themselves. For instance, the Treaty requires the Community to take action ‘only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States …’ and can ‘by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed act 6.4 The principle of proportionality This principle has been developed and refined by the ECJ and is also covered by Article 5 EC: Any action of the Community shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Treaty. However, given that the objectives of the Community are defined very widely in Article 2 EC, the principle of proportionality is not always the easiest tool for curbing EU legislative enthusiasm. 6.2 The supremacy of EU law Whenever there is a conflict between the provisions of EU law and the provisions of the domestic (national) law of a member state, then EU law will prevail. This is a principle which was developed by the ECJ as the relationship between domestic and EU law is not clarified by treaty provisions. This is an important principle, as it ensures the proper functioning of the EU. If an EU member state had the power to annul EU law by adopting new domestic (national) law which was in conflict with the 5.4 Summary of Part D Table 3 summarises the main aspects of Part D. 5.3.3 Decisions A decision is an individual act emanating from an EU institution and addressing particular individuals, firms or EU member states. It is a legal tool designed to allow the Community institutions to order that a measure be taken in an individual case. The decision therefore, unlike the regulation or directive, is of individual application, and is binding only upon the persons to whom it is addressed. 5.3.2 Directives A directive is a Community act which ‘shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods’. A directive therefore has to be implemented by each EU member state through its own domestic legislative process. After the enactment of a directive, the EU member states will generally be given a period of time within which to bring their domestic law in line with the objectiv 5.3 EU secondary legislation Law made by the EU institutions in exercising the powers conferred on them by the treaties is referred to as secondary legislation. This legislation includes: regulations directives decisions recommendations opinions. Another EU institution often required to contribute to the EU law-making process is the European Court of Justice. This has two main functions: 4.5 The European Parliament The European Parliament fulfils three main functions: it shares the power to legislate it exercises democratic supervision over all EC institutions it shares authority over the EC budget. The legislative and supervisory roles are based on the European Parliament's democratic legitimacy. Its members are directly elected every five years by the citizens of the EU member states. 4.1 Overview The institutions of the EU work towards objectives related to the three pillars and the creation of a body of Community law that applies uniformly in all member states. The institutions having legal rule-making powers include the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Finally, there is the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has the power to settle lega 3.4 How does the EU operate? The EU operates through institutions created in the treaties. These institutions can have decision-making powers, law-making powers or may act as part of a checking and consultation procedure. The institutions include: The European Parliament (represents the people of the EU). The Council of the European Union (represents the member states of the EU). The European Commission (represents the interests of the EU). John Napier Vectors and conics Introduction For many calculations you use a calculator. The main aim of this course is to help you to do this in a sensible and fruitful way. Using a calculation to solve a problem involves four main stages: Stage 1: working out what calculation you want to do; Stage 2: working out roughly what size of answer to expect from your calculation; Stage 3: carrying out the calculation; Stage 4: interpreting the answer – D
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Activity 7 A snapshot from the EU constitutional debate (2)
Table 3 Types of law and their effects
Type of law Effect
Author(s):
This free course looks at Scotsman John Napier, best known to for his treatise on Protestant religion. However, it was his interest in a completely different subject that radically altered the course of mathematics. After 40 years of dabbling in maths, he revealed his table of logarithms in the early 17th century.
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Attempts to answer problems in areas as diverse as science, technology and economics involve solving simultaneous linear equations. In this free course, Vectors and conics, we look at some of the equations that represent points, lines and planes in mathematics. We explore concepts such as Euclidean space, vectors, dot products and conics.
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