Burton talks Human Rights Act, nation’s transition to EU
Sir Michael Burton’s towering position on the High Court of Justice of England and Wales didn’t stop him from bringing some good British humor to his speech at the USC School of Law Thursday night.
His talk was the keynote address for today’s seminar on “International Human Rights and the Rule of Law: The Impact on Global Business.”
Burton was brought to talk about the impact of the United Kingdom’s 1998 Human Rights Act on current legislation.
The short answer, according to Burton? “None at all.”
But the best way to hit a target with an arrow is to shoot first and draw the target later, he said, so he refocused the talk to differences between attitudes in the U.S. and U.K. surrounding human rights and the U.K.’s struggles adapting to European law after joining the European Union.
Lawsuits brought against Google for taking pictures of private property for Google Earth were decided differently on opposite sides of the pond, he said. Judges in the European Union, especially France and Spain, tend to be more sympathetic to the prosecution’s privacy arguments than in the U.S., he said.
Juggling common law and European law has forced British judges to try “balancing acts” between the right to privacy and the right to a fair, thorough trial.
Under common law, these contentions would be decided by centuries of precedents.
But as a judge, Burton doesn’t mind the complication.
“Compliance [to European law] doesn’t necessarily mean immediate compliance,” he said.
Burton is most famous for deciding a 2007 lawsuit against former Vice President Al Gore.
He decided that screening Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” in British public schools violated laws barring the promotion of partisan political views. He took issue with a couple of facts, including the film’s claim that the sea level may rise up to 20 feet, which he said was made in “the context of alarmism and exaggeration.”
Burton decided to allow the film to be shown in schools as long as it is accompanied by guidance balancing the film’s occasionally “apocalyptic vision.”
The rest of the symposium will take place today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Law School Auditorium and will include discussions on human trafficking, international regulations and China’s approach to human rights.
For more information and a full schedule, visit scjilb.org.