Duncan Ouseley

Who is Duncan Ouseley?

Sir Duncan Brian Walter Ouseley, styled The Hon. Mr Justice Ouseley, is a High Court judge in England and Wales, Queen's Bench Division. He is notable for involvement in many legal cases reported in the British press.

His judgments have included rejecting appeals by suspected international terrorists against indefinite detention; a view overturned in 2004, when the House of Lords ruled that it violates the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 1992, as a Queen's Counsel, Ouseley represented the Chief Adjudication Officer for Social Security Administration. From 2002 to 2005 he was President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal.

In 2002, in the case Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd, the television presenter Jamie Theakston sought an injunction against The Sunday People claiming publication of details of his visit to a brothel infringed his right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Refusing to impose the injunction, Ouseley ruled "It is not inherent in the nature of a brothel that all or anything that transpires within is confidential.

In February 2012, an atheist councillor and the National Secular Society took Bideford Town Council to the English High Court to challenge the saying of prayers at council meetings. Ouseley ruled that the town council was acting unlawfully, citing the Local Government Act 1972, and ordered that prayers should stop. This decision affects all councils in England and Wales. The ruling was welcomed by the British Humanist Association, but was criticised by Christians, religious groups, and bishops, who felt Christianity was being "marginalised", or was "under attack" in the UK.