ABSTRACT
Section 8(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998 permits UK courts to award damages if satisfied that the award is necessary to afford the claimant ‘just satisfaction’. This article has two aims. First, it unpacks how UK courts have approached the question of what constitutes ‘just satisfaction’ through an empirical study of all existing case law on HRA damages. Three themes are drawn out: UK courts have built upon, not just replicated Strasbourg’s remedial jurisprudence; ‘just satisfaction’ is used as an umbrella term for multiple remedial objectives; ‘just satisfaction’ can be delivered through multiple remedial tools alongside or instead of damages, such as declarations and apologies. Secondly, it explores how this variety of remedial objectives and tools can be navigated in a coherent and principled manner. It does so by addressing two narrow questions that have yet to receive sustained judicial attention: how claimants’ and the public’s interests can be balanced, and the role that apologies can play alongside damages in delivering just satisfaction.
Wong, Yi Xuan, A Remedy of One’s Own: Damages under the HRA 1998 (March 14, 2025).
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