Article 14—Prohibition of discrimination

Produced in partnership with Dr Lewis Graham of Wadham College, University of Oxford

Practice notes

Article 14—Prohibition of discrimination

Produced in partnership with Dr Lewis Graham of Wadham College, University of Oxford

Practice notes

Introduction—Article 14 and the HRA

Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), reads as follows:

‘The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in [the] Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.’

Under HRA 1998, all public bodies, including courts, must always act compatibly with the ECHR, including Article 14. Failure to do so gives rise to liability under HRA 1998, s 6; decisions of public authorities can be quashed and secondary legislation can be struck down. Primary legislation can also be subject to a conforming interpretation under HRA 1998, s 3 (for an example in the context of Article 14, see Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza), otherwise courts can send a signal to Parliament that the legislation breaches Convention rights by way of issuing a declaration of incompatibility under HRA 1998, s 4

Dr Lewis Graham

Fellow in Law, Wadham College, University of Oxford

Lewis completed his doctorate at the University of Cambridge and holds Law degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Bristol.

He joined Wadham College, Oxford as a Fellow in January 2022 and teaches Jurisprudence, Public Law and Administrative Law. His general research interests include judicial decision-making, the work of apex courts, public law and human rights (especially the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights). He is particularly interested in empirical legal work.

His monograph, Judicial Individuality on the UK Supreme Court, will be published in 2024 with Hart. He has recently published articles in journals such as the Modern Law Review, Public Law, Human Rights Law Review and International and Comparative Law Quarterly.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

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