Response to Nationwide:Eversheds:Home visits:Human Rights Act

There's a lot of confusion about this, even amongst the legal fraternity. Yes, sure, the HRA applies primarily to public authorities such as government departments and local authorities (eg city councils), and only time and case law will tell if the HRA is going to be applied to companies as well. (You could argue that a sewage company or a bank carries out a 'public function', so the HRA should apply to them too.) However, the crux of the matter is that the *courts* are also a 'public authority' and cannot ignore the provisions of the HRA. So if Eversheds took you to court it is within that arena that you could argue that your human rights were breached by the litigant. The court cannot ignore the HRA, because it is legally obliged to be bound by the HRA. Make sense? But these are unchartered waters to a great degree, I believe. Others may know of recent case law which illuminates the position better.

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