Showing posts with label UK Supreme Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK Supreme Court. Show all posts

Thursday, April 27, 2023

UK Supreme Court: Jehovah's Witness Organization Not Vicariously Liable for Rape by An Elder

In Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v. BXB, (UK Sup. Ct., April 26, 2023), Britain's Supreme Court held that the Jehovah's Witnesses organization is not vicariously liable for the rape of a church member by an elder of the church.  The court said in part:

First, the rape was not committed while Mark Sewell was carrying out any activities as an elder on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was at his own home and was not at the time engaged in performing any work connected with his role as an elder. So, eg, he was not conducting a bible class, he was not evangelising or giving pastoral care, he was not on premises of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the incident had nothing to do with any service or worship of the Jehovah Witnesses. The lack of direct connection to the role assigned to him as an elder makes these facts significantly different from the institutional sex abuse cases where, eg, as part of their jobs the [defendants] ... were living in the same institution as their victims....

Secondly, in contrast to the child sexual abuse cases, at the time of the rape, Mark Sewell was not exercising control over Mrs B because of his position as an elder. It was because of her close friendship with Mark Sewell and because she was seeking to provide emotional support to him, and not because Mark Sewell had control over her as an elder, that Mrs B went to the back room. The driving force behind their being together in the room at the time of the rape was their close personal friendship not Mark Sewell’s role as an elder. Put another way, the primary reason that the rape took place was not because Mark Sewell was abusing his position as an elder but because he was abusing his position as a close friend of Mrs B when she was trying to help him....

The Court issued a press release summarizing the decision.

Thursday, December 08, 2022

UK Supreme Court Upholds Northern Ireland Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Law

In Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland - Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill, (UK SC, Dec. 7, 2022), the United Kingdom Supreme Court held that Northern Ireland legislation creating a safe access zone of 100 meters from abortion clinic entrances that is off limits to abortion protesters does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court said in part:

156. The right of women in Northern Ireland to access abortion services has now been established in law through the processes of democracy. That legal right should not be obstructed or impaired by the accommodation of claims by opponents of the legislation based, some might think ironically, on the liberal values protected by the Convention. A legal system which enabled those who had lost the political debate to undermine the legislation permitting abortion, by relying on freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, would in practice align the law with the values of the opponents of reform and deprive women of the protection of rights which have been legislatively enacted.

A press release by the Court summarizes the 56-page opinion.  Catholic World Report discusses the decision.

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Cert. Filed In Religious Non-Profit Contraceptive Coverage Compromise

A petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court (full text) was filed yesterday in Houston Baptist University v. Burwell.  In the case, brought by three religiously affiliated colleges, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Obama administration's rules that allow religious non-profits to opt out of the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive coverage mandate by certifying their religious opposition and either notifying their insurer or plan administrator of their opposition, or furnishing the government with the name and contact information for their insurer or administrator. (See prior posting.) A Becket Fund press release announcing the filing of the petition says that three other petitions challenging the non-profit accommodation have already been filed with the Court.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Britain's Supreme Court Punts On Whether Narrow Abortion Law Conscience Rights Violate Religious Freedom

In Greater Glasgow Health Board v. Doogan, (UK SC, Dec. 17, 2014), the United Kingdom's Supreme Court gave a narrow interpretation to the conscience clause in Britain's Abortion Act 1967, but left open the question of whether that interpretation violates religious freedom rights or amounts to religious discrimination.  Section 4(1) of the Abortion Act provides that, with certain exceptions:
no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection....
In a suit by two Catholic midwives who worked as labor-ward coordinators, the Court held that "participate in" should be read narrowly:
It is unlikely that, in enacting the conscience clause, Parliament had in mind the host of ancillary, administrative and managerial tasks that might be associated with those acts. Parliament will not have had in mind the hospital managers who decide to offer an abortion service, the administrators who decide how best that service can be organised within the hospital..., the caterers who provide the patients with food, and the cleaners who provide them with a safe and hygienic environment. Yet all may be said in some way to be facilitating the carrying out of the treatment involved. The managerial and supervisory tasks carried out by the Labour Ward Co-ordinators are closer to these roles than they are to the role of providing the treatment which brings about the termination of the pregnancy. “Participate” in my view means taking part in a “hands-on” capacity.
However, in an important qualification, the Court said:
So, even if not protected by the conscience clause in section 4, the petitioners may still claim that, either under the Human Rights Act or under the Equality Act, their employers should have made reasonable adjustments to the requirements of the job in order to cater for their religious beliefs. This will, to some extent at least, depend upon issues of practicability which are much better suited to resolution in the employment tribunal proceedings (currently sisted pending the resolution of this case) than in judicial review proceedings such as these.
The Court also issued a press release summarizing the decision, and BBC News reports on the decision. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Thursday, June 12, 2014

British Supreme Court: Civil Courts May Decide Religious Doctrine To Settle Legal Disputes

In Shergill & Ors v Khaira & Ors, (UK Sup. Ct., June 11, 2014) the United Kingdom Supreme Court held that British courts should not treat religious disputes as non-justiciable "where the determination of the dispute is necessary in order to decide a matter of disputed legal right...."  The case involves a dispute over who are the proper trustees in three Sikh temples and the powers which trustees may exercise.  The Supreme Court held in part:
... courts do not adjudicate on the truth of religious beliefs or on the validity of particular rites. But where a claimant asks the court to enforce private rights and obligations which depend on religious issues, the judge may have to determine such religious issues as are capable of objective ascertainment. The court addresses questions of religious belief and practice where its jurisdiction is invoked either to enforce the contractual rights of members of a community against other members or its governing body or to ensure that property held on trust is used for the purposes of the trust....
... the court may have to adjudicate upon matters of religious doctrine and practice in order to determine who are the trustees entitled to administer the trusts. Subject to further amendment of the parties’ cases, the question whether Sant Jeet Singh has power to appoint and dismiss trustees may depend on issues such as (i) what are the fundamental tenets of the First Holy Saint and the Nirmal sect, (ii) what is the nature of the institution at Nirmal Kutia in India, (iii) what steps or formalities were needed for a person to become the successor of the First Holy Saint, and (iv) in relation to the fourth issue whether the teachings and personal qualities of Sant Jeet Singh comply with the fundamental religious aims and purposes of the trust....
[Thanks to Law & Religion UK for the lead.]

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Britain's Supreme Court Holds Scientology Chapel Is Place of "Religious Worship" Where Marriages May Be Solemnized

In R (on the application of Hodkin and another) .v Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, (UK Sup. Ct,, Dec. 11, 2013), Britain's Supreme Court overruled a 1970 Court of Appeal case and held that a chapel of the Church of Scientology qualifies under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 as "a place of meeting for religious worship." Therefore the Registrar General should have recorded it as a place at which marriages may be solemnized under the Marriage Act 1949.  In so holding,  Lord Toulson wrote:
... [R]eligion should not be confined to religions which recognise a supreme deity. First and foremost, to do so would be a form of religious discrimination unacceptable in today’s society. It would exclude Buddhism, along with other faiths such as Jainism, Taoism, Theosophy and part of Hinduism.... 
For the purposes of PWRA, I would describe religion in summary as a spiritual or non-secular belief system, held by a group of adherents, which claims to explain mankind’s place in the universe and relationship with the infinite, and to teach its adherents how they are to live their lives in conformity with the spiritual understanding associated with the belief system. By spiritual or non-secular I mean a belief system which goes beyond that which can be perceived by the senses or ascertained by the application of science.... Such a belief system may or may not involve belief in a supreme being, but it does involve a belief that there is more to be understood about mankind’s nature and relationship to the universe than can be gained from the senses or from science. I emphasise that this is intended to be a description and not a definitive formula.
The court went on to hold that the Scientology chapel is a place of meeting for religious "worship," concluding that it is sufficient that the location is one where members perform religious rites, whether or not the rites involve adoration of a deity:
fine theological or liturgical niceties as to how precisely they see and express their relationship with the infinite ... are more fitting for theologians than for the Registrar General or the courts. 
Lord Wilson wrote a separate concurring opinion, joined by 3 other justices holding that the Registrar General's role in registering houses of worship is more than ministerial. The court also issued a press summary of the decision.  Time reports that the decision may have broad ramifications.  (See prior related posting.)

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Britain's Supreme Court Says Christian Hotel Owners May Not Refuse To Rent To Gay Couple

In Bull v. Hall, (UK Sup. Ct., Nov. 27, 2013), Britain's Supreme Court held 5-0 that the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 prohibit a Christian couple who operate a hotel from refusing on religious grounds to rent a room with one double bed to a same-sex couple (who were in a civil partnership arrangement). The hotel owners rented double bed rooms only to married couples.  Britain's  Equality Act 2010 distinguishes between "direct" and "indirect" discrimination.  Indirect discrimination-- which is similar to the disparate impact concept in U.S. law-- is allowed if it can be justified as "a  proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim."  Direct discrimination may not be justified.  All 5 of the Supreme Court's justices concluded that the refusal to rent to the couple amounted to unjustifiable indirect discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Three of the justices also concluded that the refusal amounted to direct sexual-orientation discrimination.

Lady Hale's lead opinion disposed of the hotel owners' religious liberty claims rather briefly, saying:
There is no question of ... replacing “legal oppression of one community (homosexual couples) with legal oppression of another (those sharing the defendants’ beliefs)” .... If Mr Preddy and Mr Hall ran a hotel which denied a double room to Mr and Mrs Bull, whether on the ground of their Christian beliefs or on the ground of their sexual orientation, they would find themselves in the same situation that Mr and Mrs Bull find themselves today. 
The court's decision in the closely-watched case affirms the conclusion of the Court of Appeals. (See prior related posting.)  The Daily Mail reports on the decision. [Thanks to Marc Stern via Religionlaw for the lead.]