Smith and Grady, ECtHR Judgment of 1999 (ECHR) [2000] 29 E.H.R.R. 493

• Plaintiffs claimed breach of article 3 and 8 rights because they were dismissed from the navy for being homosexuals.

• Court held that there had been a violation of article 8. This was although the British high court and CA had denied the claim on the grounds that it was not an irrational one (i.e. it had been challenged by judicial review - Pre HRA - and had the challenge had failed).

• This demonstrates how proportionality is a stronger test than irrationality/unreasonableness.

• The ECtHR also held that the Orthodox British approach (Wednesbury) failed to grant Plaintiffs an effective remedy for breach of their rights because the threshold was too high. 

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