Hunting Act 2004 - Challenges

Challenges

Attempts by pro-hunting groups (such as Jackson v Attorney General) to challenge the Act by questioning the legality of the Parliament Act 1949 in the High Court and Court of Appeal failed, and the ban took effect on 18 February 2005. The House of Lords agreed with the lower courts in a judgment delivered in October 2005.

A separate application for judicial review was made to the High Court of England and Wales, arguing that the anti-hunting legislation contravenes individual human or property rights protected in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and under European Community law, that is the free movement of goods and services. Some believed that there was a possibility that the challenges could obtain a degree of compensation for some of those adversely affected, although the Scottish courts did not reject the equivalent Scottish law, the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, which also lacked any compensation provision. The application was successively dismissed by the High Court in July 2005, the Court of Appeal in June 2006 and the House of Lords in November 2007. An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was ruled inadmissible.

The 2010 general election resulted in a coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. Under the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement, the government aims to give the House of Commons a free vote "to express its view" on repealing the Hunting Act 2004. In November, a number of MPs told the BBC that a vote is not planned before early 2012.