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The Court Judgement on the Tyrer’s Case

This is a case referred by Mr. Tyrer, a British citizen to the European Commission of Human Rights in 1978, who committed a crime in the Isle of Man.

The Isle of Man otherwise known simply as Mann, is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann.

Under British law, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom. However, Britain takes care of its external and defence affairs, and retains paramount power to legislate for the island.

There is an independent Isle of Man police force, which is controlled directly by the Isle of Man Government, but which nonetheless voluntarily submits to inspection by the British inspectorate of police. Citizenship in the Isle of Man is governed by British law. Local government on the Isle of Man is based on the concept of ancient parishes. There are two types of local authorities: a corporation for the Borough of Douglas, and bodies of commissioners for the town districts of Castletown, Peel and Ramsey, the village districts of Kirk Michael, Laxey, Onchan, Port Erin and Port St Mary, and the 15 “parish districts”. Local authorities are under the supervision of the Isle of Man Government's Department of Local Government and the Environment (DOLGE).

EU law has direct application to the Isle of Man only for very limited purposes, in accordance with Protocol 3 to the 1972 Act of Accession.

Mr. Tyrer was arrested for shoplifting and found guilty by the jury. The judge sentenced him to corporal punishment. Mr. Tyrer wasn’t satisfied about the judgement and brought the case into the court.

The applicant claimed before the Commission that the facts of his case constituted a breach of Article 3 of the Convention which provides: ''No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment''.

He alleged that there had been torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or any combination there of.

In its report, the Commission expressed the opinion that judicial corporal punishment, being degrading, constituted a breach of Article 3 and that, consequently, its infliction on the applicant was in violation of that provision.

The case was then referred to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Attorney-General for the Isle of Man argued that the judicial corporal punishment at issue in this case was not in breach of the Convention since it did not outrage public opinion in the Island. However, even assuming that local public opinion can have an incidence on the interpretation of the concept of “degrading punishment” appearing in article 3, the Court does not regard it as established that judicial corporal punishment is not considered degrading by those members of the Manx population who favours its retention: it might well be that one of the reasons why they view the penalty as an effective deterrent is precisely the element of degradation which it involves. As regards their belief that judicial corporal punishment deters criminals, it must be pointed out that a punishment does not lose its degrading character just because it is believed to be, or actually is, an effective deterrent or aid to crime control. Above all, as the Court must emphasize, it is never permissible to have recourse to punishments which are contrary to Article 3, whatever their deterrent effect may be.

The Court must also recall that the Convention is a living instrument which, as the Commission rightly stressed, must be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions. In the case now before it the Court cannot be influenced by the developments and commonly accepted standards in the penal policy of the member States of the Council of Europe in this field. Indeed, the Attorney-General for the Isle of Man mentioned that, for many years, the provisions of Manx legislation concerning judicial corporal punishment had been under review.

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