David Miranda and the Constraints of the "Prescribed by Law" Requirement: Miranda v. Home Secretary, [2014] EWHC 255

Laws L.J. delivered the judgment of the Divisional Court yesterday in Miranda v. Home Secretary, [2014] EWHC 255, a judgment explained by Rosalind English and Carl Gardner, and aspects of which have also been discussed by Fiona de Londras and Colin Murray. Miranda, en route to Berlin to share confidential information with a journalist, was detained in Heathrow Airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act because officers wanted to question and search him. He challenged the legality of the detention, raising unsuccessful arguments based on freedom of expression and use of power for an improper purpose.

In the course of his judgment Laws L.J. threw a couple of digs, one at the UK Supreme Court and one at the European Court of Human Rights. Mark Elliott adjudges the dig aimed at London to have hit its mark, but in my view Laws L.J. at best grazed the cheek of Strasbourg.

Deference and Defence

Mindful of the threat of a terrorist attack during the Olympics, the British authorities have developed an Air Security Plan. One element of the plan is to install missiles on the roof of a residential apartment tower in Leytonstone. Unsurprisingly, the residents were upset. They went, unsuccessfully, to the High Court to judicially review the missile-siting decision.