R (Smith) v Secretary of State for Defence

The Supreme Court has ruled in the case of R (Smith v MoD). The Supreme Court, by a majority of 6 to 3, overturned a ruling of the Court of Appeal that soldiers on active service outside the UK were entitled to the benefit of Convention rights under the Human Rights Act 1998, but held that there had been a potential breach of the Convention on the facts of her son’s case, so that the inquest into his death was to be conducted in accordance with Article 2.  The Supreme Court held that such soldiers fell outside the jurisdiction of the UK for the purposes of Article 1 of the Convention.
James Eadie QC and Pushpinder Saini QC acted for the Secretary of State for Defence.  Dinah Rose QC acted for the respondent and Michael Beloff QC appeared for the intervenor, the Equality and Human Rights Commission.