The incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights: Maintaining the integrity of a modern criminal justice system within the context of improperly obtained evidence

The European Convention on Human Rights 1950 represented a radical endeavour to create a set of pan-European civil liberties and, moreover, to set in place a machinery for the recognition and enforcement of human rights. However, the Convention was not, legally, part of UK domestic law. Instead, appeals had to negotiate the lengthy and expensive route to the Court sitting in Strasbourg. This was to change when the Labour Party returned to office resulting in the 1998 Human Rights Act under which the Convention became a part of UK law. In the area of criminal law it was regarded as an imperative that the integrity of the criminal justice system be protected and enhanced, through a recognition and consolidation of the rights to a fair trial. This article focuses on the prosecution's use of improperly obtained evidence, as one aspect of the right to a fair trial, and illustrates its problematic enforcement. It also raises questions as to the ultimate success of the 1998 Act given the common law reliance on judicial discretion and the lack of judicial creativity in applying Convention rights