A glass of wine in the park vicar?

[firetto]

My local council have just issued a by-law prohibiting drinking alcohol in public places. Why doesn't this by-law affect someone's civil liberties to do as they like in a free country?

[Quizmonster]

We can't actually do as we like unless it is within the law. If these people have the power to pass such a law, then breaking it is breaking it. I see your point, if it referred, for example, to a boyfriend and girlfriend having a picnic with wine in the park. In those circumstances, I doubt the police would bother you. What has almost certainly brought this on are the throngs of loud, offensive, drunken young men who make life a misery for 'normal' people in many town centres. You and other innocents are having to pay for them, I'm afraid.

[inferno]

Quizmonster says "If these people.." I thought I would point out that "these people" are your democratically elected representatives. If enough people in your community disagree with the new law they can do something about it (eventually) by voting them out. So many people have a go at local councils and so few people vote because they don't feel that politics is relevant to them. Well, here is an example of why it matters.

[vittoria]

Any lawyers out there please correct me if I am wrong but this is what I understand. Before the Human Rights Act it used to be said that rights in the UK were negatively stated i.e. you did not have a positive right to do something but you could do it as long as there was no law somewhere saying you could not. Now with the HRA for the first time rights have been stated positively: it is the first time that there is actual UK law that says that you have a right to life, family life, etc.etc. However for something like that, you would have to challenge it in court, by way of judicial review, claiming that the bylaw infringes one of your rights under the HRA. Perhaps freedom of expression?

[Pinotage]

Its part of the increasingly popular move to prosecute people not for doing something wrong, but having the potential to do something wrong. i.e. instead of prosecuting people for being drunk and causing a nuisance, they make it illegal to have a drink in public.

Funnily enough our local council have spent �10,000 puttig up such signs and passing bye-laws banning public drinking in the town centre. But some squatters have pitched tents on a beautiful little park lawn and can't be got rid of. The Herts Advertiser reports "Notices in the area say drinking is banned but the group, who have three tents, sit around drinking for much of the day.

He said the council was also looking at redesignating the anti-drinking bylaws under more recent legislation so that police would be able to operate them more efficiently.

The current bylaws mean the police can only take action if people continue to drink after they have been warned not to. Begs the question why they are not so asked. See http://www.hertsad.co.uk/story.aspx?brand=HADOnline&category =News&tBrand=hadonline&tCategory=homepage&itemid=WEED15%20Ju l%202004%2012%3A06%3A21%3A883