65[2003] 1 All ER 385.
66[2003] 1 All ER 689.
67[2003] 1 All ER 731.
47
94
Volume 1 of the All England Law Reports for 2003 contain reports of cases decided
in the High Court, Court of Appeal, House of Lords, and Privy Council. Multiple
judgments were given in the following 3 cases reported in the volume. In R
(Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment65 the Court of
Appeal had to consider whether parents religious belief that physical correction
was appropriate was interfered with by a provision of the Education Act 1996 that
prevented teachers imposing corporal punishment and was contrary to Article 9 of
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms. By a majority, the court held that the section did not inhibit the carrying
out of those beliefs. Each Judge delivered a separate judgment. The report of the
decision extends to 80 pages. Mathews v Ministry of Defence66 is a decision of the
House of Lords in which the question was whether a statutory limitation on actions
in tort was incompatible with Article 6 of the Convention. Each of the 5 Law Lords
gave separate judgments, each holding that because the limitation was not
procedural there was no incompatibility. The report is 40 pages long. The case
reported immediately after Mathews is Runa Begum v Tower Hamlets London
Borough Council,67 in which the House of Lords had to consider whether a
procedure for dealing with disputed claims for housing relief was incompatible with
Article 6. Again, 5 separate judgments were delivered, each deciding that there was
no incompatibility. The report is about 30 pages long.
95
Of the 62 cases reported in the volume, 46 were decisions of courts comprising
more than one judge and in 26 of those cases more than one judgment was