COMMENT The Human Rights Act 1998, in force since October 2000, incorporated into UK law the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Convention rights may now be relied on by litigants in the UK without the need to take a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Act creates a statutory duty that all laws, past or present, must be interpreted in a way that is compatible to the Convention.