Relationship of international law and municipal law — European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Incorporation into domestic law by Human Rights Act 1998 — Human Rights Act 1998 entering into force on 2 October 2000 — Application — Interpretation — European Court of Human Rights — Temporal jurisdiction — Grand Chamber decision of European Court of Human Rights — Šilih — Meaning — Nature of obligations imposed by Article 2 of European Convention — Substantive and procedural obligations — Procedural obligation requiring State to carry out effective official investigation into circumstances of death — Procedural obligation detachable from substantive obligation — Effect of Šilih decision on domestic law — Previous House of Lords decision in McKerr inconsistent with Šilih decision — Whether McKerr binding — Deaths occurring before commencement of Human Rights Act 1998 — Substantive obligation having no application in domestic law — Scope of inquests — Whether inquests into deaths to comply with procedural obligation under Article 2 of Convention — Whether breach of claimants’ Article 2 rights under Human Rights Act 1998

Human rights — Right to life — Article 2 of European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 — Nature of obligations — Decision of European Court of Human Rights in Šilih — Procedural obligation to investigate deaths detachable from substantive obligation — Procedural obligation requiring State to carry out effective official investigation into circumstances of death — Human Rights Act 1998 incorporating Convention into domestic law — Human Rights Act 1998 commencing 2 October 2000 — Deaths occurring before commencement of Act — Scope of inquest into deaths — Whether inquests into deaths to comply with procedural obligation under Article 2 of Convention — The law of Northern Ireland