If a prior decision was contrary to Convention rights, the Court of Appeal is required to give effect to the Convention rights even if doing so involves disapplying their own past precedent or precedent from the House of Lords/Supreme Court.
[1] (See also: Culnane v Morris & Anor[2]–a case concerning qualified privilege–overruling Plummer v Chairman;[3] Miller v Bull[4]–which concerned a time extension to comply with the formalities under the Election Petition Rules 1960–which overruled Ahmed v Kennedy.
[5] The latter case, though heard after the HRA 1998 came into effect, had failed to consider whether the Human Rights Act had been breached.)
[1] Following departure, this is now governed by the provisions of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
[1] The decision of the Court of Appeal in R v James and Karimi[6] may also have future implications regarding precedent and Privy Council decisions; the Court of Appeal deciding to follow the Privy Council ruling in Attorney-General for Jersey v Holley [2005] as opposed to the contentious House of Lords decision in R v Smith (Morgan James) [2001] in a case concerning defendant characteristics and provocation under s.3 of the Homicide Act 1957.